OLYMPIA — A House Republican said he was committed to finding a way to exempt all farm fuels from cap-and-trade taxes, while acknowledging he hasn’t found it yet.

The House Environment and Energy Committee took testimony Feb. 13 on House Bill 1912, the latest attempt to keep a promise lawmakers made in 2021 that cap-and-trade would not increase the cost of fuel burned on farms or to transport farm goods.

Fuel producers and distributors have worked together to strip cap-and-trade costs off some fuel sold to farms. No one, however, has found a way to exempt all eligible fuels.

HB 1912 would require farmers to apply for refunds. The Washington Farm Bureau is pushing policymakers to find a way to not tax farm fuel in the first place.

HB 1912 sponsor, Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, acknowledged his bill needs work, but he introduced it because time was running out to get something before lawmakers this year.

Cap-and-trade costs still hit some farm fuels and are a top issue for agriculture, Dent said.

“Finding a solution is a challenge. We know that. But we made a promise, and we need to find a way to keep that promise,” he said.

“My promise to you, to this Legislature and to the agricultural community is we will change this. We will make it work. We’ll make it as simple as we can for all of agriculture,” Dent said.

Dent’s bill has bipartisan support. Eleven Democrats joined 12 Republicans as co-sponors. Environmental lobbyists said they supported seeing farmers get the promised exemption from cap-and-trade costs.

The intent of Dent’s bill, however, was more praised than its details. Environmental lobbyists said they opposed Dent’s proposal to permanently exempt fuel used to transport farm goods. The exemption will end in 2027 under current law.

The Farm Bureau signed in as neutral. Farm Bureau director of government relations Breanne Elsey said the group was concerned about requiring farmers to apply for refunds.

The Legislature last year set aside $30 million for partial refunds. Only $3.2 million has been claimed, according to the Department of Licensing.

“We’ve come to find government remittance programs are woefully underutilized by agriculture,” Elsey said.

Retroactive compensation also would require farmers to front cap-and-trade costs, possibly paying interest, she said.

Washington Oil Marketers Association lobbyist Diana Carlen said Dent’s bill would interfere with fuel distributors who are delivering fuel to farms without cap-and-trade costs.

“Right now a lot of farmers are receiving exemptions at point of sale. We don’t want to do anything to disrupt that,” she said.

Dent’s bill would base refunds on the price of carbon allowances. The price changes every three months as the Department of Ecology auctions off allowances.

Presumably, cap-and-trade is currently adding 32 cents a gallon to gasoline and 40 cents to diesel. That’s only an estimate. A feature of cap-and-trade is that the public doesn’t know the cost at the pump.