The Impact hosted a panel discussion on Initiative 2117 which would repeal the Climate Commitment Act’s progressively stricter carbon emissions limits for large polluters as well as the state’s carbon market for emissions permits called allowances. The initiative would also prohibit state agencies from establishing any type of carbon tax credit trading or cap-and-trade program in the future.
The program brought in well over $2 billion in the first couple of years. Lawmakers staked large transportation projects to the revenue, including the work to transition state ferries to a hybrid-electric fleet. Revenue from the law’s cap-and-invest program is a major component of the 2022 Move Ahead Washington transportation package. Portions of the revenue go towards grants for regional transit agencies and projects like bike lane additions or upgrades. A certain percentage of the revenue goes to tribes for projects to address climate related challenges such as relocation due to sea level rise. The law is also funding a network of new air quality sensors in areas with higher levels of pollution.
Supporters of the repeal effort argue the 2021 carbon law heaped additional expenses on state residents by taxing companies and utilities that pass the cost on to their customers. Some are skeptical that the environmental gains and community investments outweigh the tradeoffs for households paying more to heat their homes and fuel their cars.
Opponents of I-2117 say it will remove important environmental protections and eliminate a path to a cleaner future that forces some of the biggest polluters in the state to pay for improvements in hard hit areas. Some also describe the 2021 law as a transformative shift at a critical time and argue the repeal initiative would undermine efforts to protect vulnerable populations and ecosystems.
Todd Myers, represents the Yes on I-2117 campaign in the panel. Myers is the Vice President for Research at the Washington Policy Center and the organization’s lead on environmental policy issues.
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-West Seattle), represents the No on I-2117 campaign in the panel. Fitzgibbon served as chair of the House Environment and Energy Committee for nearly a decade and helped pass some of the major climate change focused legislation in recent years, including the CCA.
“We are spending money on things that don’t yield any or very tiny environmental benefits for very high costs. Subsidizing electric vehicles for people who are wealthy yields tiny environmental benefits for very high cost. There’s lots of things that we can do that maximize environmental benefit. So great— target the spending. We can even spend state money. But make sure that we get what we’re paid for, not prioritizing it based on politics,” said Myers.
“I think that defeating Initiative 2117 would show that we expect those 100 largest emitters in our state to reduce their emissions over time and that we want to continue making investments in things like new ferries and salmon recovery projects and wildfire prevention and, you know, incentives for lower polluting trucks and electric school buses. There’s a lot of things that make life better for Washingtonians, that make air quality better for Washingtonians, that make, habitat better for salmon and orca and all the species that we care about as a state that we just wouldn’t have those resources if we don’t ask the 100 largest polluters to pay for the impacts of their pollution anymore,” said Fitzgibbon.
Watch the full episode here: