‘You’re being ripped off’: Curley blasts Climate Commitment Act spending as WA gas prices remain among highest in U.S.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s office rejected a letter from State Senator Chris Gildon urging the state to temporarily suspend the Climate Commitment Act (CCA), Seattle Red reported Wednesday.

Ferguson’s office blamed high gas prices on the war in Iran and said the situation does not constitute the kind of emergency that would allow Ferguson to exercise his power. KIRO host John Curley pushed back, saying the citizens who voted for the CCA aren’t getting what they asked for.

“I know Trump has completely screwed the pooch on this Iran war, and that’s why we’re paying the high gas tax — and Israel’s in there, not explaining why they’re bombing Lebanon — but in the meantime, this grift, this fraud, this abuse of this CCA, this money that whoever voted for it, the citizens that wanted to keep it in place, you’re being ripped off,” he said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Curley questioned the results of programs funded by the CCA, asking why Ferguson won’t tap into the fund’s unspent money to provide direct relief to Washington residents.

“Where are the metrics? What are you doing? Having people sit around, attend some sort of meeting, and then I don’t know what else they’re doing in there,” he said.

Where Climate Commitment Act money is going

Curley noted the Community Health Worker Coalition for Migrants and Refugees received $219,575 for Latinx community engagement on air quality improvement projects. According to the grant application, the money would fund a community advisory board conducting three community workshops and facilitating a one-day summit to produce three actionable and innovative interventions to reduce pollution in the Moxee Valley.

Curley also pointed to $170,200 that was granted to the Somali Independent Business Alliance to run inclusive meetings, educational workshops, and stakeholder feedback to learn about the impact of air pollution.

“From $220,000 to $170,000 and the list keeps going and going and going, but the governor absolutely not, ‘No way are we going to touch the CCA fund.’ Crazy,” he said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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