The House passed an oil transportation bill on Tuesday that supporters say will better prepare the state in case of catastrophic oil spill.
The bill collects an 8 cent per barrel fee from rail lines, vessels and pipelines that will help pay for oil spill prevention and clean up. It also requires railroads to create oil spill contingency plans and demonstrate that the company can pay for a “reasonable worst case oil spill.”
Republican Rep. Vincent Buys introduced an amendment that would have removed the fee from pipelines, and halved the fee for rail and vessels. “We’ve never had this fee on pipelines and it is not appropriate to put it on the pipelines,” he said. “Pipelines aren’t where we have to worry about the major spills in our state.”
But Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, said that pipeline should pay their share. “There are oil spills that can result from having oil coming into the state from pipeline,” he said. “It’s appropriate that they bear some portion of the cost for the prevention and cleanup of these spills.”
The amendment failed, largely along party lines with Democrats opposed and Republicans in support. 
Rep. Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, said the final bill represents a “reasonable compromise” that takes into account what local first responders and communities need to protect against an oil spill, while also making sure the state can pay for the programs outlined in the measure.
Opponents argued that the bill should not tax pipelines and expressed concern that it will collect more money than needed.
“We already know that doing this is going to bring in far more revenue than is needed to implement the program,” said Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley. “There’s a whole lot of tax, but I have to ask the question: Where is that going to go?”
The bill passed with a vote of 58 to 40, and heads back to the Senate.
Read the full striker amendment adopted by the House.