The Northeast Climate Pact Implodes

Connecticut Governor Lamont withdraws amid soaring fuel prices

WSJ editorial.

"Progressives say the only way to achieve their climate goals is to raise the price of fossil fuels. Their problem is that consumers don’t want to pay more for energy, and as the latest proof behold Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s retreat this week from a Northeast state climate pact.

Last December the Governors of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts and the mayor of Washington, D.C., joined a cap-and-trade scheme to reduce carbon emissions from fuel. Wholesalers and distributors would have to buy emissions credits at auction. The proceeds would be sent to the states to spend on electric vehicles, public transportation and “climate justice.”

Over time the cap on emissions would decline, and fuel distributors would have to spend more to buy credits. This would increase fuel prices. The Lamont administration estimated the scheme would add about five to nine cents a gallon to gasoline prices in the first year. Prices would rise in the other states too.

Which is why all three Governors failed to pass the scheme in their overwhelmingly Democratic legislatures this year. “There are some people who are living on such a tight margin that anything that adds to their regular expenses is going to put a squeeze on them and put them in a tight hardship,” Connecticut Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney said.

Mr. Lamont finally gave up trying to pass the scheme this week. “Look, I couldn’t get it through when gas prices were at historic lows. So I think the legislature has been pretty clear it is a tough rock to push when gas prices are so high,” he said. Massachusetts GOP Gov. Charlie Baker then threw in the towel too, causing the climate pact to effectively combust.

Mr. Lamont is running for re-election next year, and perhaps the close race this month in New Jersey gave him pause. Even liberals don’t want to pay more for energy to make an insignificant reduction in global emissions. Washington State voters have twice shot down a carbon tax. This summer the Swiss rejected higher taxes on driving and flying in a referendum. Maybe the death of fossil fuels that we’ve been told is inevitable isn’t so inevitable."