By Pepper Fisher

OLYMPIA — In Olympia, Rep. Mike Chapman, the Port Angeles Democrat and House Agriculture Committee Chairman, said Tuesday he regrets voting for cap-and-trade, saying the Washington Department of Ecology has failed to shield farmers from higher fuel bills.

Chapman, speaking at a committee meeting, said he conditioned his support for the landmark climate law on the promise that carbon taxes would not apply to diesel and gasoline used to grow and transport farm goods.

The Climate Commitment Act directs Ecology to “determine a method” to exempt farm fuels from carbon taxes. Farm groups say farmers are paying cap-and-trade surcharges on fuel.

“It was clear. The legislative intent was clear, the law was clear that agriculture would not be subject to these carbon price increases. And so we want to make sure that the legislative intent, an intent that helped me get to a yes on this vote, is fulfilled. And it’s really up to the executive branch to make that happen.”

Chapman, who said yesterday he was “beyond frustrated”, said he’s in favor of reimbursing farmers who present invoices showing they paid cap-and-trade surcharges on fuel as possibly the best solution.

“Yeah, that’s what I support. It’s probably difficult, when you have the manufacturer passing the cost on to the distributor, and the distributor to the retailer. And farms buy their fuel from different sources and in different places. So, they just need to be able to apply for the rebate, the state issues rebates all the time through the Department of Revenue, show proof of how many gallons of fuel they purchased for their farm. And then, my thought has been, let’s do this on a quarterly basis, and then the state would issue a rebate. It’s a little bit of extra cost, but honestly, it’s probably the cleanest way for these farmers to get the rebate that’s coming to them.”

Chapman, apparently in frustration, said at one point that he didn’t see how it was going to be fixed short of court action by some aggrieved party. We asked him about that comment.

“It’s time to step up and do the right thing, and let’s not make our farmers take our own government to court. You know, if the state doesn’t come up with an answer. that’s maybe what happens. It seems to be indefensible in court. So, it behooves the state government to step up and provide these rebates. You know, it would be like the IRS saying, ‘Well, you know, we know you overpaid your taxes but, yeah, we’re not really sure how we’re going to get your money back to you.’ Like, that just doesn’t work in America. When government owes a refund, we owe it to our taxpayers to give them their refund.”

The Senate Ways and Means Committee rejected setting aside $32 million for farmer refunds. Rep. Joe Schmick, the Republican from Colfax, said he will offer a similar amendment to the House budget.

(Photo by Don Jenkins)