Posted on 04/01/2009 1:05:06 PM PDT by jazusamo
Can the "Greens" compete against some serious green -- as in cash?
On Aug. 18 Seattle voters will decide whether they want to impose a 20 cent-per-bag fee on plastic and paper grocery bags sold in the city. Backers say the fee will help the environment. Industry opponents say it is expensive and unnecessary.
Those supporting the bag fee are counting on Seattle's green-friendly electorate. If recent history is any guide, opponents will be counting on vastly superior monetary resources.
The Coalition to Stop The Seattle Bag Tax -- a group funded largely by the American Chemistry Council -- had raised nearly $250,000 by the end of February, according to Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.
Most of that money -- $239,000 -- had already been spent. The group paid to gather signatures to put the bag fee question before voters.
The anti-bag-tax group has $8,720 left in the bank, but could presumably raise a lot more.
By comparison the Seattle Green Bag Campaign -- a group promoting the bag fee -- had raised just over $3,000 by the end of February and spent most of that. The group had just over $600 left in the bank.
The local Sierra Club chapter is one of the groups that will be working to pass the bag referendum. Spokesman Brady Mounts said supporters aren't intimidated by the disparity in financial resources.
"Sierra Club environmentalists are very rarely in the situation of having remotely as much money as their opponents," Mounts said. "They have a lot of money, we have a lot of people."
The fee on disposable bags originated with Seattle's citizens, Mounts said, because people were concerned that they were ending up in landfills.
Seattle Pubic Utilities has estimated that 360 million disposable bags are used in the city each year. The 20-cent fee would add a few dollars to weekly grocery bills, but is expected to cut the number of bags used by half. Proponents of the bag fee say similar programs in Ireland have cut plastic and paper bag use by 90 percent.
"Seattle citizens wanted this, advocated with the City Council and worked to get a law passed. That's how change happens," he said. "The nice thing about grassroots campaigns is you can use what you have, which is a populace which cares about protecting the environment."
But Keith Christman, senior director of packaging for the American Chemistry Council, said the city's own polling shows that three out of five Seattle residents are against the idea of a disposable bag fee.
"We think Seattle residents will look at this and say we don't need a punitive tax to do the right thing for the environment," said Christman, adding that surveys show 91 percent of city residents already reuse and recycle plastic bags. He said the industry encourages people to reduce bag use, reuse and recycle them.
Christman said in this tough economy he doesn't think families will want to pay hundreds of dollars a year in additional fees to use plastic bags. He also said such a tax could severely affect the recycling infrastructure for other plastic products not covered by the disposable tax ordinance -- things like plastic wrap around dry cleaning, soda cases and newspapers.
Though San Francisco has banned plastic bags, Seattle would become the first major city to place a fee on disposable bags if residents approve the measure. "No other city has a adopted a tax on bags at this point…places have proposed it and considered it (but) given the current economy decided it wasn't the best approach." Mounts, of the Sierra Club, says the plastic industry opposes the fee because it will cut into their profits. "They want the money," he said. "We don't want the money. We want people to stop using (paper and plastic bags) and pay no money."
Thanks :-)
Oh man! You nailed it. A complete moonbat troll!
Ping for trolling moonbat-ery at #18
Just keep the IDEA on the WEST SIDE!
///// #PPPPPPP
DTG 031525Z APR 09
T O P S E C R E T VIKINGKITTEN
SUBJ: SNIFF
RE: POST 18
1. PERIMETER SENSORS ALERTED OF SUSPECTED TROLL PRESENCE, THIS DTG, THIS LOCATION.
2. WATCH NCOIC IS DECLARING CODE VICTOR-KILO AND RECOMMENDING LEVEL ONE SURVEILL NOOB IN FREEP FORUM (S.N.I.F.F.).
3. ALL ELEMENTS ARE DIRECTED TO REPORT CONFIRM/DENY TO FREEPNORAD AS AVAILABLE. WATCH NCOIC WILL COORDINATE COMMS WITH FR MOD COMMAND BUNKER.
4. ADMIN NOTE: INTERESTED PARTIES MAY BE INCLUDED IN, OR REMOVED FROM, THE VIKING KITTIES TROLL-WATCH ALERT ROSTER BY FREEPMAILING THE WATCH NCOIC, CODENAME “OLD SARGE”, SUBJECT: ALERT ROSTER.
5. CHALLENGE/PASSWORD: STUNE-RALPH.
#/////
NOTHING FOLLOWS
EOM EOM EOM
Darn - late to the party.
It’s dead, Sarge.
Change the end word to Constitution. You see protesting works for them but not for us, we will get no attention with our Tea Party's, but it is grassroots. I will go anyway.
Damn it those “greens wanted the plastic to save the bloody trees.
I know, Lets us the Greens instead! THEY can carry everything!
I have seen and reprimanded people who just push the basket towards the receptacle which usually ends up hitting a car. I got on to one young lady, she just F ed. me off and drove away. disgusting generation.
We have a store "Alde" (spelling?), where you put a quarter in basket coin slot to release, when you bring it back the chain inserted will release the quarter. NO SHOPPING CARTS IN THE PARKING AREA. That is an idea I wish would catch on in ALL MALLS.
Aldi’s. A good place for that, and a lot of deals, too.
Thanks for the spelling. Yes, Aldi’s is a great place for the frugal. I especially appreciate their shopping carts with the quarter’s. Basically Rent Free usuage. Needs to be everywhere.
I think this has to do with petroleum made plastic. Not all plastic comes from petroleum. They cn use other sources like amonia based compounds.
I haven’t seen that in the several articles I’ve read about this but it could be, this article says that this would include paper bags also, though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.