SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Inslee using lightning-caused wildfires to push bogus carbon tax

Aug 21, 2018, 5:13 AM | Updated: 5:42 am

Jay Inslee is trying to engineer a multi-billion-dollar rip-off of taxpayers with the wildfires that are happening right now. As you probably know, lightning strikes started about 12 wildfires recently; most of the smoke we have here in the Puget Sound is from wildfires in British Columbia, along with some in the Cascades.

As I’ve pointed out, you can have absolute gridlock here in the summer, and if there isn’t a forest fire nearby, then the skies can be beautiful and pristine and clear as can be. But if a lightning strike causes a forest fire, then all of a sudden we are engulfed in smoke. It is proof that man’s role in carbon emissions is insignificant. As I’ve said before, carbon-based transportation represents about 100 years of the 4.5 billion years of our planet; a lightning strike and ensuing wildfire emits hundreds or maybe even thousands of times the amount of carbon of all of our cars put together.

But Jay Inslee, bizarrely, is using these wildfires as a reason why we should raise our taxes by hundreds of dollars in that bogus carbon tax that he wants us to pass this fall. “Unless we act, they will continue to be covered by this pall of smoke on their futures,” he said of our children.

RELATED: Time-lapse video from KIRO Radio studios shows Seattle blanketed by smoke

So if you raise taxes by billions of dollars, a lobbyist will slip some of that money to God, and he will stop lightning from hitting our state’s trees? None of this makes any sense. Inslee says that the wildfires are worse because we are tinder-dry. Actually, we’ve had wildfires caused by lightning strikes forever.

Inslee calls the carbon tax initiative a “very well-calibrated, sophisticated proposal which will give these kids cleaner air.” As I told you last week, the state gets $600 million from the tobacco companies per year, and they said they will use it to provide smoking cessation programs and anti-tobacco education. Well, the state is only spending $1.5 million on those things. The state would rather have people fill their lungs with smoke and their cells with cancer if the alternative is taking some of that money out of the general fund and spending it where they promised. Remember when they sold us on the state lottery? They said they would use that money to fund schools, but they hijacked that money and put it in the general fund; they would rather have crappy schools than to give up money.

So we’re supposed to believe today that if we pass a multi-billion-dollar carbon tax, it will go to clean air and clean water? No — it’s going to go to the general fund like everything else they do. And if you get suckered in again, that’s on you; I’ve been warning you forever.

Lebanese army soldiers stand at a checkpoint in Froun village, southern Lebanon, Thursday, July 16,...

Associated Press

Lebanon’s president will meet with Trump in Washington to push for Israeli troop withdrawal

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to wrap up a four-day visit to Washington, in a bid to bring about long-term calm in the war-torn country after months of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Joseph Aoun’s landmark meeting with Trump comes as Lebanon […]

49 minutes ago

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), SK Hynix...

Associated Press

Asian shares mostly gain and South Korea and Japan recover some losses from AI stock sell-offs

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares mostly gained on Tuesday, with markets in South Korea and Japan trading higher after recent declines due to heavy selling of stocks linked to artificial intelligence. U.S. futures edged higher, while oil prices slipped. South Korea’s Kospi, which is heavily reliant on AI and chipmaking-related shares, jumped 4.7% to […]

56 minutes ago

FILE - Powerball lottery tickets are sold at a convenience store, Dec. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore. ...

Associated Press

Powerball ticket sales begin Tuesday in the United Kingdom

Powerball ticket sales in the United Kingdom will begin Tuesday, giving players across the Atlantic a chance at winning the same massive jackpot that U.S. players already play for — with the same minuscule odds. The expansion, first announced in April through an agreement between the Multi-State Lottery Association in the U.S. and Allwyn UK, […]

2 hours ago

Rep. Andy Biggs, right, R-Ariz., who is running in the primary for Arizona governor, hugs a support...

Associated Press

Arizona Republicans pick nominees Tuesday for governor and other top offices

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Republicans are choosing nominees Tuesday to challenge Democrats who hold top offices as the GOP searches for a path back to power in a battleground state it used to dominate. U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, who represent neighboring districts in metro Phoenix, offer a clash of styles in the […]

2 hours ago

President Donald Trump, right, salutes Air Force 89th Air Wing Deputy Commander Melissa Dombrock, l...

Associated Press

US and Iran dig in over the Strait of Hormuz, showing the limits of intensifying airstrikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Iran are back to bombing every day in a bid to control the Strait of Hormuz. And neither is backing down, showing the limitations of President Donald Trump’s reliance on escalating airstrikes to bend Tehran to his will. While the Trump administration says it is open to diplomacy, Iran […]

2 hours ago

SR 20...

KIRO 7 News Staff

Westbound SR 20 closed for a semi-truck off the road

According to Trooper Kelsey Harding, shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday, a semi-truck went off the road on SR 20 just east of SR 9.

4 hours ago

Dori: Inslee using lightning-caused wildfires to push bogus carbon tax