Carbon tax friends, we’ve got 5 days left and we’re closing strong!
When we launched this campaign we compared ourselves to a relief pitcher, and now—two years later— we are on the mound, it’s down to the wire, and it’s time to finish strong!
You can get inspiration from today’s New York Times article about I-732 (and the fight over coal export terminals). And also the article in today’s Seattle Times.
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WE CAN WIN!
Ballots are out and voting has begun! This is it, everyone. As the philosopher Seneca said – “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
We are prepared and we have a tremendous opportunity. Say it out loud with us, “we can win”. We can win!
Donations matched up to 20K to put I-732 on TV so WE CAN WIN!
Like we said last week, the doors and the phones are our best play – but not our only play. We are finally getting a little bit of air support, in part thanks to our bird loving friends over at Audubon WA, for our ground game. They’ve created a simple but fun ad for I-732 but we need your help to get it before voters! Check out the ad on Youtube and tell us what you think in the comment section then read on to help us get it on TV.
A donor has put up $20,000 as a match if we can raise it by 10/30 specifically for CarbonWA to push this ad out to undecided voters on TV. I-732 supporters have already managed to get the ad on TV in a few spots but they can’t run it for longer than a handful of days as it stands now. If we complete this match we can get this ad on the air for an additional day – maybe even two.
The R Street Institute — a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy research organization that promotes free markets and limited, effective government — calls a carbon tax a “bargain for conservatives.”
In a policy study written by Catrina Rorke, R Street’s director of energy policy, the institute says even a modest carbon tax will bring big results: “The price doesn’t have to be large. If the necessary steps are taken to remove government-imposed obstacles to innovation and wealth generation, a relatively modest price will reshape economic decision-making. A modest carbon price of about $20 per ton would reduce emissions 8 percent below business as usual . . .” (I-732 imposes a price of $15 a ton in the first year and $25 in the second, with annual adjustments.)
I-732 is the most important climate vote in the nation
There’s good news internationally on the climate front (last month’s news about the Paris accord, plus yesterday’s deal to phase out HFCs) and we can keep the good news rolling by passing I-732…
…because everyone from President Obama to economists everywhere agree that putting a price on carbon is the single most important thing we can do to take action on climate change;
…because I-732 would (in the words of an MIT expert) “certainly be one of the most aggressive — if not the most aggressive — carbon taxes that we have on the books globally”;
…and because I-732 shows the path forward for bipartisan climate action: “the most important thing” according to Democratic strategist Mark Mellman.
That’s why I-732 is the most important climate vote in the nation… and people are starting to get the message: