Washington Cap-and-Trade Law Signed as Ballot Threat Looms (1)

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed a new law that spells out key details for the state’s cap-and-invest program, potentially making it easier to link its nascent carbon market with more established ones in California and Canada.

Under the law, which Inslee signed on Thursday, state regulators would be required to amend cap-and-invest program rules to synchronize with those in other jurisdictions upon “linkage,” a term for combining carbon markets, unless those other jurisdictions first amend their rules to mirror Washington’s. The law puts up needed guardrails so that “more nuanced and much more robust” conversations about the program ...