Writes Seattle city council member Tim Burgess:

[H]ere in Seattle we tried to impose a use fee on both plastic and paper bags but voters overturned the Council's decision after a massive, million dollar hoodwink campaign by the oil industry. I've blogged about all this before.

It's time for Seattle to ban the use of single-use plastic shopping bags. An outright ban! (We should exempt those plastic bags we all use at the grocery story to hold fresh vegetables, meat, fish and ice cream.) Plastic bags contribute to litter, they accumulate in our oceans and harm marine life, and they cause a negative drag on our forests. We need bold, decisive action, we need to demonstrate leadership on this issue and that's what I intend to do.

Right on, Burgess!