TUMWATER – Supporters of a measure that would require continuous natural gas service in Washington say they have enough signatures to get on the ballot in November.
Initiative 2066, if passed, would explicitly protect the use of natural gas and repeal parts of a law passed last session aimed at helping the state’s largest utility, Puget Sound Energy, chart a course with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to eventually exit natural gas service.
If the petition is successful, it would set up a major ballot battle this fall in Washington on environmental issues. of The natural gas measure would join Initiative 2117, which would repeal the state’s system to cap and reduce carbon emissions.
At the Secretary of State’s office in Tumwater Tuesday afternoon, supporters submitted nearly 431,000 signatures, which were collected by voters in less than two months before a July 5 deadline. Supporters plan to submit another set of signatures later this week.
The petition needs about 324,500 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Signatures must be verified by the Secretary of State’s office.
Let’s Go Washington, the group funded by Redmond businessman Brian Heywood that is backing a number of initiatives this year, including the effort to repeal the carbon market, threw its weight behind the gas measure and backed a statewide signature campaign .
Heywood said the initiative is a collaboration between Let’s Go Washington, the Washington Hospitality Association and the Washington Construction Industry Association, which funded the initiative’s signature-gathering operation.
Both organizations echoed concerns from restaurant owners, grocers and hotel operators and builders that natural gas, which is mostly methane, is essential to their operations and to keeping prices affordable for consumers.
“We’ve formed a partnership that is the model for how citizens step back when the legislature overreaches,” Heywood said.
Standing with supporters in front of boxes of pastries and mango juice, Dan Deva, a partner at Mayuri Foods, a South Asian grocer in Redmond, said his stores rely on natural gas to power kitchen equipment, refrigerators and healing and cooling of foods. the system. Converting to all-electric would cost something from $700,000 to $800,000, he said.
“(Initiative) 2066 is very simple,” said Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Washington Construction Industry Association. “It protects natural gas service for every home and business that currently has natural gas service, and second, it protects the freedom of every Washingtonian to choose what energy source they want to use for their home and business.”
During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1589, which aims to help Puget Sound Energy work with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to comply with previous climate legislation, including the state’s plan to limit and reduce carbon emissions and decarbonize its electricity supply.
Although the law does not outright ban natural gas, supporters of the initiative say they want to protect the consumer’s choice to use natural gas as the Legislature pushes utilities and ratepayers to electrify. Natural gas, supporters of the initiative say, is cheap and reliable, and the current electric grid is not prepared for increased use.
Lane noted the higher cost of an all-electric system when building a new home, for example. Electrical equipment is more expensive, and the cost of building electrical infrastructure is also more expensive than running a gas line into a home, he said.
If passed, the initiative would repeal provisions of the law, including assessing the potential for electrification within geographic areas and achieving cost-effective electrification for natural gas customers.
House Bill 1589 included a provision that would allow the utility to potentially bundle its natural gas and electric customers into one rate plan, although PSE has said the change was not required and it would take “more than a few years” to do so. The initiative includes language to repeal that provision, Lane said.
The initiative would also target recently passed energy efficiency mandates, he said, intended to make it nearly impossible to install fossil fuel appliances in new buildings.
State Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, who helped champion House Bill 1589, said the initiative would penalize low-income and industrial users of methane gas at even higher rates as higher ratepayers tariff rich are switching to electrifying their homes and buildings. The bill gives a utility in the state the ability to start “thoughtfully” planning around that trend, he said.
“Even if people have concerns about the ability to use methane gas in the future, for which there is no ban, and the costs associated with it, this (initiative) is, fundamentally, poorly written,” he said. adding that the initiative appears to combine changes from the Washington building code council with the PSE bill.
Nguyen also stressed that even in the most aggressive electrification plans, which the law ultimately did not allow, natural gas would never have been turned off overnight for customers and would have involved a multi-year planning process with the utility commission.
Climate Solutions, which testified in favor of the PSE bill, also said in a statement that the initiative would be a “big mistake on our path to a clean energy future” and existing laws are essential to keeping utility bills down. “as low as possible. .
Caitlin Krenn, director of climate and clean energy at Washington Conservation Action, said the initiative was “the latest in a slew of deceptive and destructive initiatives” supported by Heywood.
“I-2066 would take away community choice, jeopardize rebate programs that help families and small business owners afford building improvements, repeal common-sense measures that make homes and workplaces more efficient and healthy for energy and erodes clean air protections,” Krenn said. “Over time, this measure will raise energy costs for hard-working Washingtonians.”