WSFB Asking Washingtonians To Vote For I-2117

In 2023. farmers and truckers of agricultural goods in Washington started paying a Climate Commitment Act fuel tax that, even though, by law, they are exempt.  Since then, Ag groups have been pushing for a fix to this exemption problem, with little help from the Department of Ecology.

“So, as a result, Washington Farm Bureau and Washington Trucking Association joined together to file suit against the Department of Ecology, not to recover the lost fees, but to ask a judge to compel Ecology to reopen rulemaking and to force Ecology to implement the terms of the law that currently exist.”

Bre Elsey, Washington Farm Bureau’s Director of Governmental Affairs, says the judge recently dismissed the suit.

“Judge Lanese never gets into the details of why he dismisses the case. He just says that he agrees with the Department of Ecology’s brief. But typically, what a judge will do is describe what exactly he thought was defensible on behalf of the respondent, and he never does.”

Moving forward, Elsey is asking the everyone across the state to fight for Agriculture.  She noted it can’t just be producers and farmers, but voters need to stand up for what is right.  The WSFB is urging all who support their local Washington farmers to vote YES on I-2117 this November.  She continued without the public’s help, the Farm Bureau says food costs will continue to rise, and local farms will continue to disappear.

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