LA Times Editorial Board Blasts California Cap-And-Trade For Turning Into “Slush Fund”

June 14, 2019

The left always claims that their eco-policies are about helping the environment. But history tells us that’s not the case. In reality, they want to expand government power, raise taxes, and funnel money toward causes they like under the guise of environmentalism.

Just take one look at California’s “cap-and-trade” system, and this is patently obvious.

Today, the Los Angeles Times editorial board blasted California lawmakers for turning cap-and-trade into a “slush fund” for politicians.

The editorial board explains how “California lawmakers are about to prove” the critics of cap-and-trade right by using tax revenue from cap-and-trade for non-environmental spending.

Though the state is “legally required” to spend the money on projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, California lawmakers want to spend it on water cleanups.

While clean water is necessary, the Los Angeles Times blasts the logic these politicians are using as “ludicrous.” Apparently, Governor Gavin Newsom is arguing that if communities have tainted water, they will need “bottled water delivered in trucks that pollute the air. If the water supply is cleaned, that will reduce vehicle emissions.”

The editorial board thinks this is ridiculous, and they are right.

“By that ludicrous logic, California could pay for expanded Medi-Cal benefits with cap-and-trade dollars too, because if people have preventive healthcare, they’ll get sick less and drive to the hospital less and produce fewer greenhouse gases.”

This is a great example of the perverted logic of the eco-left. To them, every far-left government policy can be somehow justified under “protecting the environment.” It’s why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stuffed her “Green New Deal” with environmental policies like a government takeover of healthcare and paying those unwilling to work.

It’s nice to see the Los Angeles Times standing up to the excesses of the eco-left. Perhaps they’re beginning to realize that the critics have been right all along.