Attempt To Repeal Washington State's Cap-And-Trade Law Fails W. 38% Of The Vote

The people of Washington state elected to save the most ambitious price on carbon in the country. A large majority of voters, 62 percent, rejected a ballot initiative to repeal the state’s Climate Commitment Act, the cap-and-trade law that has already raised more than $2 billion for cleaning up transportation, shifting to clean energy, and helping people adapt to the effects of a changing climate.

On an otherwise depressing election night for voters who consider climate change a top concern, there was an air of victory at the Seattle Convention Center on Tuesday evening, where Governor Jay Inslee and a couple hundred organizers with the campaign opposing the repeal gathered for a watch party. As news rolled in that former President Donald Trump was the favorite to win the presidential election, many in the crowd did their best to focus on their success in rescuing the state’s landmark carbon-cutting law. Inslee, the outgoing Democratic governor whose signature climate legislation was at risk, said that the results should embolden states to take action on climate change. “I really feel it was important from a national perspective, because every state legislator can now look to Washington and say, ‘This is a winning issue,’” Inslee said in an interview with Grist. “This is something you can defend and win big on. And we won big.”

Inslee said that the effort to defeat the initiative had emphasized the concrete, local benefits of the program to voters, rather than getting into the weeds about how cap-and-trade works. “We focused on the easiest thing for people to wrap their minds and hearts around,” Inslee said, pointing to the tangible economic benefits that the repeal would take away: the funding for transportation, schools, and fighting fires.

Putting any kind of price on carbon has long been seen as politically risky. Opponents of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, including Brian Heywood, the hedge fund manager driving the repeal effort, blamed it for raising gas prices. The ballot measure wouldn’t have only struck down the state’s price on pollution — it would have also prevented the state from ever enacting a similar policy in the future.

Ed. - Emphasis added - and of fucking course.

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https://grist.org/politics/washington-climate-law-repeal-failed-cap-and-trade/