Several counties take stand against cap-and-trade bill

MEDFORD, Ore. — The controversial climate bill known as “Cap and Trade” is still being debated in Salem.

Now, leaders from 23 counties across Oregon are making it known to legislators they’re against it.

Jackson County Commissioner Colleen Roberts says it started with an email the county sent out a week ago asking other counties if they wanted to take a unified stance against this year’s bill.

‘Cap and Trade’ is a term used for capping the amount of carbon companies can release into the air.

If companies stay under the cap, they can trade their leftover emissions allowance to others.

Democrats are hoping some changes made to the bill will gather more Republican support, but that hasn’t been the case so far in Salem this month.

“It’s tens of millions of dollars to implement the plan,” said Jackson County Commissioner Colleen Roberts. “It’s billions, I understand of revenue that’s expected to be received and where that’s coming from is our citizens’ pocket books.”

After Jackson County sent the email, she says they got 23 responses from counties against the bill.

That’s out of the 36 counties in Oregon.

Roberts says the proclamations are being read on the Senate floor right now as lawmakers continue to deliberate on the bill.

© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.

Skip to content