WA voters strongly rejecting repeal of landmark climate law

By Jerry Cornfield / Washington State Standard

Washington voters on Tuesday were overwhelmingly rejecting a ballot measure to repeal a controversial law that’s generated billions of dollars from polluters to fund the state’s fight against the harmful effects of climate change.

Initiative 2117 was losing by a 61.7% to 38.3% margin in the statewide tally Tuesday night with voters in nearly two dozen counties opposing the measure. Results will be updated as more votes are tallied in the days ahead.

In Snohomish County, 60.7% of voters opposed the initiative Tuesday.

The ballot measure repeals a 2021 law, known as the Climate Commitment Act, which established the state’s cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The measure also would bar state agencies from imposing any type of program involving the trading of carbon tax credits.

It is one of a suite of laws intended to drive down greenhouse gas emissions in Washington to 45% below 1990 levels by 2030, 70% by 2040 and 95% by 2050.

The Climate Commitment Act is arguably the state’s most ambitious policy for curbing greenhouse gas emissions by putting a price on pollution.

The law sets annual emission limits for major emitters, such as oil refiners and utilities, and requires them to buy allowances at state auctions for each metric ton of their air pollution. Over time, the limits are lowered to compel polluters to curb their emissions. The program started Jan. 1, 2023, and the first emissions allowance auction was held Feb. 28, 2023.

Critics argued the law and its carbon-pricing program won’t significantly move the needle on climate change. But it is driving fuel, food and energy prices higher as companies pass their added expenses from the law onto consumers, they said.

In 2023, Let’s Go Washington, a conservative political committee funded largely by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, financed the gathering of roughly 420,000 voter signatures to get the repeal measure in front of voters.

It was one of four initiatives backed by Let’s Go Washington on the ballot.

The cap-and-invest program has raised $2.3 billion for the state to date. Those dollars are getting spent on an array of undertakings in the state’s current operating, capital and transportation budgets.

The lion’s share is going to transportation for such things as the purchase of electric school buses, free public transit for youth, air quality monitoring and electric vehicle chargers. A portion — $150 million — covered the cost of providing a one-time $200 credit on the residential electricity bills of nearly 700,000 households.

Proponents of I-2117 criticized the timing of the utility bill credit — which households received in September — as a thinly veiled campaign tactic to win support for the climate law.

An analysis from the state Office of Financial Management found 37 state agencies have spending authority from Climate Commitment Act funds in the current biennium for programs, projects and as grants for local governments, community groups, school districts and tribes.

Initiative opponents raised $16.4 million for their campaign against the measure, taking in cash from billionaires such as Steve and Connie Ballmer and Bill Gates, nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy, state employee unions and tribes.

They said if the initiative passes it would eliminate a critical weapon in the state’s fight against climate change.

And they argued repealing the law would end funding for programs to lessen air and water pollution, electrify the state’s transportation system, improve fish habitat and prevent wildfires. The burden of paying for pollution, they said, would fall onto families and local communities.

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