Letter: Pass I-1631 for good of climate

Editor,

A just released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for the assessment of climate change, stated that we have just 12 years – that’s right, just 12 years– to limit the looming climate change catastrophe. Hence, we must move faster to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Here in Washington, we have an opportunity to take a leading role in this effort by voting “yes” on Initiative 1631 this November. I-1631 would put a fee – not a tax – on the state’s largest polluters and invest that money in protecting the environment and building new clean-energy infrastructure across the state.

This fee, unlike a tax, cannot be spent on government expenses or public programs, but must be used to invest in those climate and environmental projects targeted by I-1631.

A closer look at I-1631 shows that the fee on the largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions will generate almost $2.3 billion in the first five fiscal years.

Seventy percent of this money would go to a “clean air and clean energy” account, 20 percent would go to a “clean water and healthy forests” account, and the remaining 5 percent would go to a “healthy communities’” account.

Advisory panels created for each of these accounts would be tasked with providing detailed investment and other project recommendations to a public oversight board.

This oversight board would consist of members from the departments of health, transportation, public instruction, at-large citizens and tribal representatives, the commissioner of public lands and directors of commerce, ecology, recreation and conservation.

I-1631 is an investment in a better future for Washingtonians: cleaner air, cleaner water, improved health, better forest protection, greater energy efficiency and 40,000 living wage jobs. While it is possible that the “fee” imposed on greenhouse gas polluters could lead to small increases in the price of gasoline, for example, the costs of doing nothing to mitigate the tragic consequences of climate change are incalculable.

We have a chance to lead the country with this ballot measure – a bold first step to seriously address the greenhouse gases that are adversely affecting our climate, and ultimately, the inhabitability of our planet. Let’s pass I-1631.

Marshall F. Goldberg

Oak Harbor