SILVERDALE, Washington — Standing at a transit center near four new wireless charging stations for buses in a small community west of Seattle, Governor Jay Inslee told public transportation and city officials where the money came from to pay them — more than $1 million.
“It is only possible thanks to the Climate Commitment ActInslee said, referring to a program that works to reduce pollution while raising money for investments that address climate change. “That was the source. It’s the only way we can do this.”
Inslee made similar comments as he toured a salmon habitat restoration project and then test-drove a car from an all-electric ride-sharing cooperative, part of a blitzkrieg by the three-term Democrat in recent months to defend the biggest climate achievement of his term amid a fierce repeal push led by conservatives. Inslee, who is not seeking a fourth term, has appeared at more than a dozen projects funded by the bill and in his spare time has added his name to a flurry of emails, texts and phone calls to constituents.
Behind the repeal effort is Let’s Go Washington, a group funded primarily by hedge fund executive Brian Heywood that has submitted more than 400,000 signatures from Washington residents to get a vote on the November ballot. They argue that the law has helped drive up gas prices that are currently third highest in the country.
Repeal would derail Washington’s plans to connect its carbon market to others, and could deal a blow to its efforts to help other states launch similar programs. And for Inslee — who made climate a central issue during his short-lived 2019 presidential campaign — repeal would be a particularly heartbreaking loss.
He talked about a carbon pricing program once he took office, and recommended The Legislature limited emissions in 2014. It wasn’t until 2021, four years after Democrats won control of both legislative chambers, that the CCA was passed and enthusiastically signed by Inslee.
Washington was the second state to launch such a program, after California, with annual targets that are particularly stringent, aiming to cut emissions by nearly half from 1990 levels by 2030.
In February 2023, the state held its first quarterly auction of emission rights for companies that emit at least 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide or the equivalent, also known as C02e. Companies like BP must buy rights based on their total emissions, with one right equal to one ton of C02e. The number of rights available decreases each year.
The auctions have more than 2 billion dollars raisedwith the money being used for everything from transportation to education. Inslee recently announced that $52 million from the program would go to tribes to address climate change.
But from the start, the issue of gas prices has rankled some Washingtonians. Inslee promised the program would have a negligible effect on gas prices while making huge investments in important climate programs. But the campaign to defund the program says the CCA has raised the cost from 43 to 53 cents per gallon, citing the conservative think tank Washington Policy Center. Gas has risen to $5.12 a gallon since the auctions began, though it was around $4.24 this month, according to GasBuddy.
“For commuters in Washington state, those pennies add up to hundreds of dollars lost to a program that has not done what it promised to do,” Let’s Go Washington said in a statement in March.
Inslee has replied that Washington saw “drastic swings” in gas prices long before the carbon pricing program, noting that the historic high of $5.54 hit just months before the auctions began.
The win-win narrative that Inslee promotes is a common one in the climate movement, says Aseem Prakash, a political science professor and founder of the Environmental Politics Center at the University of Washington. But it’s not working because it’s becoming increasingly clear that climate transition comes at a cost, Prakash says.
“He’s defending himself on cost… and that’s a losing strategy because the narrative now is that the Conservatives are saying, ‘We told you so,’ so they’re going to tax you,” Prakash said.
For some climate activists, the stakes in the vote are much higher than a single state policy. Washington is working to tie its carbon market to California and Quebec, which also have emissions auctions. That could make the market more stable and could happen as early as next year, said Becky Kelley, Inslee’s senior climate policy adviser. Washington is also helping other states with efforts to launch similar programs.
“If this initiative passes here, it would certainly put a freeze and a slowdown in states, perhaps even in the nation’s action to address the climate crisis,” said David Mendoza, director of policy and government relations at The Nature Conservancy in Washington.
State law prohibits the governor’s office from hosting political or campaign events, so Inslee has been careful to say he would have shown up at projects funded by the climate law with or without the repeal vote. But it’s clear he cares deeply about the outcome, citing his six grandchildren when asked what repeal would mean for his climate legacy.
“I think about my grandchildren in this regard, that’s my legacy. I’m proud of that legacy. And I’m determined to give them a chance,” he said. “And they should have clean air to breathe. They should have salmon in the water. And they shouldn’t have wildfires in their future all the time. That’s what interests me. That’s how I look at this issue, through the eyes of my grandchildren.”
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