Campaign News

 By putting a price on carbon pollution, Initiative 732 creates a strong financial incentive for Washington utilities to reduce their emissions and enables our state to comply with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The new Clean Air Rule exempts power plants covered under the federal Clean Power Plan. Passing I-732 should put utilities in compliance with both rules.

• The Washington State Department of Ecology recently issued a Clean Air Rule (CAR) limiting greenhouse gas emissions from large pollution sources in the state, such as industrial facilities, power plants, landfills, and fossil fuel importers.
• Initiative 732 would work in tandem with this regulatory cap by creating a financial incentive for large polluters to reduce their emissions.
• The Clean Air Rule exempts any electrical power plant that is regulated under the state’s implementation of the federal EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP).
• As a result, adopting I-732 would put power plants in compliance with the state rule as well, provided the CPP goes into force.
• For generation plants not covered by the CPP, and therefore regulated under the state CAR, adopting I-732 would create a financial incentive to invest in efficiency measures to reduce their emissions. These reductions will help them comply with the Clean Air Rule.

Photo by Matthew Henry via Unsplash.com.