NW Energy Coalition gives highest honor to B.C.’s Carole Taylor

 Conservation Eagle award recognizes former finance minister
for her leadership in enacting North America’s first carbon tax

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- The NW Energy Coalition, a 27-year-old alliance of more than 110 northwestern U.S. and British Columbian organizations committed to clean and affordable energy, has conferred its highest honor on B.C. Member of the Legislative Assembly and former finance minister Carole Taylor.

The Coalition’s Bob Olsen Memorial Conservation Eagle award is presented annually to individuals and organizations that demonstrate leadership for a clean and affordable energy future. For 2008, the Coalition board was unanimous in selecting the author of B.C.’s groundbreaking carbon tax.

“Carole Taylor’s determined efforts and sustained commitment were the key elements in the design, preparation and enactment of the first carbon tax law in North America,” said Coalition board member Penny Cochrane of Vancouver, B.C.-based Pacific Energy
Innovation Association.

Coalition executive director Sara Patton of Seattle applauded Taylor’s dedication to the environment and to all B.C. residents. She noted that carbon tax revenues will go back to citizens through reductions in other taxes.

That means those who avoid carbon taxes by reducing consumption of carbon-added products actually come out ahead financially. And they know they’re helping themselves and everyone by reducing overall greenhouse-gas emissions.

“Carole Taylor has fashioned an innovative solution to climate change that benefits consumers and encourages all citizens to participate in improving the environment,” Patton said. “Her efforts truly reflect the ideals memorialized in the Conservation Eagle award and the goals of our Coalition.”

Taylor received the Eagle award in presentation ceremony in Vancouver, BC.

The NW Energy Coalition, formed in 1981, is an alliance of environmental, labor, civic and human service organizations, progressive utilities and businesses in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia. The Coalition has an established track record of successfully promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, protecting energy consumers, increasing low-income energy assistance and working toward restoration of fish and wildlife in the Columbia basin.

The Conservation Eagle award is named for former Coalition chair Bob Olsen, a longtime public utility district commissioner in Washington state who dedicated more than 20 years of his life to securing regional investments in cost-effective energy efficiency and to protecting energy consumers. Olsen died in 1994.

For information on participating in the Coalition’s BC Caucus, contact Cy Berryman at cy@nwenergy.org.