California governor visits Seattle for rally against ballot measure that aims to undo climate efforts
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee hosted California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Seattle this past weekend in an effort to get out the vote in opposition to Initiative 2117.
The ballot measure would eliminate a program requiring Washington’s largest polluters to pay for greenhouse gas emission permits, and would forbid leaders from creating similar efforts in the future.
The cap-and-invest carbon market was created by the state’s Climate Commitment Act and has raised billions of dollars that pay for climate programs including initiatives in communities and tribes hardest hit by the impacts of climate change, state transportation infrastructure projects, and support for job creation and climate tech companies working on decarbonization.
Backers of the initiative call the program a hidden gas tax and blame it for the state’s higher-than-average prices at the pump.
The Climate Commitment Act, spearheaded by Inslee, is the state’s most impactful climate law. The governor’s third term ends in January, and he did not seek a fourth. Climate issues have been his most impassioned focal area.
On Saturday, the two governors met in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood for a No on 2117 rally and to support door-knocking in the community.
The campaign supporting I-2117, called Let’s Go Washington, said it had not organized any similar events.
“Let’s Go Washington hasn’t invited any out-of-state D-list celebrities or career politicians to try to convince residents to vote against their best interests,” said spokesperson Hallie Balch via email.
“We have hosted ‘Super Saturday’ events for the last two months and have had volunteers calling voters and going to their doors to talk about the initiatives,” Balch added. “We’ll continue to work with volunteers and supporters in the state as we get closer to the election.”
Let’s Go Washington, led by Seattle-area hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, is backing four initiatives on the ballot. The collection of measures have raised more than $13.4 million, with slightly less than half of that sum coming from Heywood.
The No on 2117 campaign has raised nearly $14.2 million. Its coalition includes some 500 organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, bp America and REI. Seventeen of the state’s federally-recognized Tribal Nations have also joined the campaign.
Inslee and Newsom reportedly sparred good-naturedly at the event on Saturday over which state is leading on electric vehicle uptake. California is No. 1 nationally, but Washington comes in second per capita for EV registrations.
Washington is currently seeking to link its carbon market with a larger, older carbon market run by California and Québec.
“We believe linkage will strengthen our respective efforts to fight climate change and reduce air pollution, while also encouraging more governments to adopt scalable, market-based climate policies in the future,” said government representatives from the three jurisdictions last month.