SEATTLE (AP) - Washington voters will likely decide in November whether to charge industrial emitters a fee for their carbon pollution.
A broad, diverse coalition of tribes, community, labor and environmental groups say they’ve gathered enough signatures to put a carbon fee on the statewide ballot - two years after voters rejected a carbon tax that would have been the first in the nation.
The fee starts at $15 per metric ton in 2020 and steadily increases until the state reaches its carbon reductions goal.
Sponsors of Initiative 1631 say it will hold corporate polluters accountable while investing in clean energy and protecting the environment. Critics warn it will raise consumer prices and hurt businesses.
Supporters delivered 375,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s office in Olympia Monday. The campaign will need nearly 260,000 valid voters’ signatures to be certified for the ballot.
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