Washington voters rejected an initiative aimed at repealing the Washington Climate Commitment Act, or CCA, a state law that provided for a cap-and-invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The vote against repeal led by 62% to 38% when the Associated Press called the race after midnight Wednesday Eastern time about 60% of the ballot counted.
Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA), a longtime outspoken climate hawk, signed the measure into law in May 2021, and it went into effect in 2023. Its survival is a victory for environmentalists.
The CCA sets a cap on emissions in the state, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050. Under the program, businesses are required to obtain allowances for their emissions. Revenue from purchases allowances is reinvested into clean energy.
No 2117 ran the campaign against the initiative, stating it would strip environment-related investments for local communities, shifting the cost onto communities to pay for the effects of pollution.
Other opponents of the ballot measure included the Permanent Defense, Statewide Poverty Action Network, Tacoma Indivisible, The Nature Conservancy, Washington Conservation Action, Washington Prescribed Fire Council, and Washington State Council of Firefighters.
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“If we are concerned about the cost of transportation for Washington businesses and residents, we have to keep our focus away from the arm-waving of the variations of gas prices that we’ve suffered through for decades and really look to true solutions,” said Michael Mann, the executive director for Clean & Prosperous Washington. “And the true solution to lower our transportation costs is to get off of fossil fuels.”
Meanwhile, Let’s Go Washington, an organization campaigning for “yes” votes for the initiative, argued that the CCA has led to the state’s high gas and utility prices and has not curbed carbon emissions.