Editor,

I’m never surprised by the things the Piazzons will say in the support of a climate action item. The oil companies aren’t lying. But I am a bit surprised by the soft sell the Whidbey News-Times editorial board offered last month for the carbon pollution proposal.

To change the “tax” to a “fee” is meant to fool some of the 60 percent who voted against this scheme the last time. Editorial boards are supposed to dive a bit deeper into the overall mechanics of these proposals.

I guess I’ve come to expect this from Sound Publishing.

Initiative 1631 will collect over $2 billion dollars in the first five years and after only seven and a half years it will double to almost $5 billion.

And there is no cap on future increases. And the money will be spent by an unelected board of people that are appointed. No accountability to the voters and the proponents of this scheme want us to trust them? Go ahead read the initiative, the increases are not limited if the greenhouse gas limits that they set are not met.

Not only that, but nearly every project they spend money on or give grants to must be approved by the tribes in the state and yet the same tribes are exempt from the very mechanisms of the initiative.

The initiative even exempts the largest polluters in the state so as to buy their silence during the campaign for this. Talk about more of the same corruption that this state is famous for.

If this is really about pollution why would you exempt even one polluter?

I’ve read their list of projects that they claim will affect climate change.

It’s almost laughable if it wasn’t so darn much money. Serious money to be spent by unaccountable people.

No thanks. Vote “no” on Initiative 1631.

Chuck Krieg

Oak Harbor