Yesterday, the Olympia City Council passed a resolution expressing its unanimous opposition to Initiative 2066. Video of the council meeting can be viewed here.
Olympia Mayor Pro-tem Yến Huỳnh noted, “[this initiative] limits choice by prohibiting our city from offering any sorts of discounts or anything in the way of incentives to energy which would get us toward our climate goals and also have a healthier community.”
Councilmember Lisa Parshley agreed. “The Washington Decarbonization Act does not ban gas; it does not limit options. But this initiative would.”
City staff shared that Initiative 2066 would restrict the City’s ability to reduce climate pollution through local actions to achieve the City’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. It would also limit the City’s implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan.
Staff also expressed that the Initiative could result in a loss of funding to support cities and community members in upgrading to clean, efficient appliances and that this would have the largest impact on low- and moderate-income households.
Initiative 2066 is a misleading and harmful ballot initiative backed by fossil fuel corporations and powerful special interests in an effort to eliminate key affordability and energy efficiency policy at the state and local levels, and experts have raised serious concerns about the potential impacts that the initiative would have on energy bills.
Initiative 2066 would stop towns, cities and counties from making decisions that work best for their communities. This is one reason why Olympia joins the cities of Kirkland and Vancouver in opposition to this initiative.