Voters in Washington state are deciding whether to kill or keep a law intended to encourage companies to invest in technology to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The proposal (Initiative 2117) seeks to repeal the state’s “cap-and-invest” program, which aspires to cut carbon emissions by 95% by 2050.
New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania are among states eyeing their own cap-and-invest programs, so the Nov. 5 vote will have “implications beyond Washington state,” said state Sen. Joe Nguyen (D), the program’s sponsor in the legislature.
A different greenhouse gas-related ballot question in South Dakota has the potential to stall an $8 billion, five-state carbon dioxide pipeline.
Brian Heywood, an investment fund manager, is leading the effort to repeal several Washington state laws, including the one authorizing the carbon marketplace, which he calls a “regressive tax” that has inflated energy prices.
“We’ll win this one,” Heywood said in an interview.
His organization, Let’s Go Washington, has spent about $7 million, according to data from the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.
Opposing committees have spent at least $27.3 million so far. One group, the “No on 2117" coalition, has dropped $12 million to fight the proposal, even recruiting science television show host Bill Nye to appear in one of its advertisements, said deputy communications director Kelsey Nyland.
Cap-and-invest programs create marketplaces where companies can buy state-issued allowances—permission to emit greenhouse gases. The number of available allowances decreases over time, eventually reaching zero, to provide an incentive to invest in emission-cutting technology.
Nguyen said he anticipates a close vote, and his cause could get a boost from a fiscal impact statement on the ballot concluding that repeal of the cap-and-invest law would result in less funding for transportation, clean air, and renewable energy programs.
“That in itself is a game changer,” Nguyen said in an interview.
Fledgling Program
Washington’s legislature set aside $3.2 billion from projected cap-and-invest funds for climate projects from 2023 to 2025. That amount includes $1.5 billion for clean transportation projects, $528 million for building decarbonization, and $345 million for environmental justice efforts, according to a governor’s office notice.
The state has raised more than $2.6 billion in revenue from carbon allowance auctions to date, according to a statement from the state Department of Ecology.
“This program is incredibly important, so the fact that it’s on the ballot at all is a concern,” Caroline Jones, senior climate analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in an emailed statement. “This is precisely the time we need states to be doubling-down on pollution-cutting policies.”
Carbon Pipeline
South Dakota voters will consider whether to keep a law that foes contend was made-to-order on behalf of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.
That project, intended to carry and permanently entomb carbon dioxide from 57 ethanol plants, has generated controversy and court cases, including one now before the Iowa Supreme Court and one that the company lost in the South Dakota Supreme Court, which ruled that Summit isn’t a “common carrier” and lacks eminent domain authority.
Nearly 500 miles of the project’s total 2,500 miles are proposed to cross South Dakota.
State regulators denied the company’s permit application in 2023, saying the project would violate county ordinances. Summit hasn’t refiled its application.
The law that could be repealed preempts local regulations around carbon pipelines and offers skittish landowners an incentive through a $1-a-linear-foot charge that would finance property tax rebates along the pipeline’s path.
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