Take 2 for Washington state: Carbon fee on fall ballot

SEATTLE — Voters in Washington state will be asked this fall to do what state and federal leaders have been reluctant to: charge a direct fee on carbon pollution to fight climate change.

If the ballot measure passes, it will be the first direct fee or tax charged on carbon emissions in the U.S.

Experts say it will prove states can take action even if the Trump administration doesn’t, and nudge other states to follow.

Initiative 1631 would charge industrial emitters that use or sell fossil fuels in the state for every metric ton of carbon emissions. The fee starts in 2020 at $15 per metric ton and increases $2 a year. It stops in 2035 if the state meets its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

About 100 emitters such as oil refineries, natural gas power plants and fuel distributors would pay the fee, raising roughly $1 billion in the first year.

The oil industry is bankrolling the campaign to defeat it. Five oil companies — BP, Phillips 66, Chevron, Andeavor and U.S. Oil & Refining — have given the bulk of more than $11 million in cash raised by a committee sponsored by the Western States Petroleum Association. Shell pledged money to the initiative it has called “flawed,” but said it won’t participate in the campaign to defeat it.

Initiative sponsors represent a broad coalition of social justice, labour, tribal and environmental groups who have spent years hammering out the details. Many opposed the carbon tax initiative voters rejected in 2016, partly because it didn’t do enough to invest in renewable energy or aid low-income and minority communities most impacted by pollution.

If passed, money raised by the fee will pay for projects aimed at cutting pollution and protecting the environment, from solar power and zero-emissions vehicles to projects that store carbon and improve forest health.