2006 Washington Initiative 937
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ballot Initiative 937 (official name Initiative measure no. 937, known as I-937) is a renewable energy initiative passed in the US state of Washington, appearing on the ballot in the November 2006 elections. It passed with 52 percent of the vote.[2]
Clean Energy Initiative | ||||||||||
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County results
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| Source: Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections[1] | ||||||||||
Content of the proposal
The initiative requires large utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from new renewable resources such as solar and wind (but excluding hydro) by 2020 with incremental steps of 3% by 2012 and 9% by 2016. It also requires that utilities undertake all cost-effective energy conservation.[3]
Precedents
Similar legislation has been enacted in at least 20 other states including the following. (The table is sorted by date and then by descending percentage. I-937 is included in bold.)
| State | Name | Enacted | Percentage | By | Comments/Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | 30% | 2000 | |||
| Arizona | 1.1% | 2007 | |||
| Massachusetts | 4% | 2009 | |||
| Connecticut | 10% | 2010 | |||
| Iowa | ~10% | 2010 | |||
| New Mexico | 10% | 2011 | |||
| New York | 24% | 2013 | |||
| Nevada | 20% | 2015 | |||
| Minnesota | 19% | 2015 | |||
| Montana | 15% | 2015 | |||
| Colorado | Amendment 37 | 2004 | 10% | 2015 | First ballot initiative[4] |
| Texas | ~4.2% | 2015 | 5.88 GW | ||
| California | 20% | 2017 | |||
| Rhode Island | 16% | 2019 | |||
| Delaware | 10% | 2019 | |||
| Maryland | 7.5% | 2019 | |||
| New Jersey | 22.5% | 2020 | |||
| Hawaii | 20% | 2020 | |||
| Washington | I-937 | 15% | 2020 | ||
| Washington, D.C. | 11% | 2022 | |||
| Pennsylvania | 8% | 2020 |
Unless indicated otherwise, data are from [5]
Supporters
Supporters included the following:[6]
Elected officials
- U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray
- U.S. Congressmen Jay Inslee, Adam Smith, Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott
- State Senators Luke Esser (R), Dave Schmidt (R), Debbie Regala (D), Bill Finkbeiner (R), Erik Poulsen (D), Karen Fraser (D), Craig Pridemore (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D), Karen Keiser (D)
- State Representatives Toby Nixon (R), Zack Hudgins (D), Brian J. Sullivan (D), Fred Jarrett (R), Pat Sullivan (D), Geoff Simpson (D), Rodney Tom (D), Dave Upthegrove (D), Brendan Williams (D)
- King County Executive Ron Sims
- Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Civic and political organizations
- League of Women Voters
- Kittitas Valley League of Women voters
- Washington State Democrats
- King County Young Democrats
- Republicans for Environmental Protection, Washington Chapter
- Green Party of Washington State
- Peace Action for Washington
Health organizations
Energy and labor
- Washington Public Utility Districts Association
- Washington State Labor Council
- United Steelworkers
- SEIU Washington State Council
Environmental
- Denis Hayes, Founder of Earth Day
- NW Energy Coalition
- Audubon Society Washington
- The Mountaineers
- Sierra Club - Cascade Chapter
- Washington Conservation Voters
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- National Wildlife Federation
Faith
- Earth Ministry
- Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington
- Washington Association of Churches
- Church Council of Greater Seattle
Newspapers
Opponents
Opponents included many small co-op electrical providers (even though the initiative affects only utilities with greater than 25,000 customers) as well as the following:[7]
- Big Bend Electrical Cooperative Archived 2006-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
- Boeing
- Boise Cascade
- Chamber of Commerces: Bellevue, Greater Seattle, Kelso-Longview, Pasco, Spokane Regional, Tacoma-Pierce County, Wenatchee Valley, West Richland Area
- Modern Electric Water Company
- National Association of Manufacturers
- Peninsula Light Company
- PUDs of Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Lewis, and Mason County.
- Representatives Brian Blake (D) and Dean Takko (D)
- Senators Jean Berkey (D) and Mark L. Doumit (D)
- Tanner Electric Cooperative Archived 2006-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Washington Farm Bureau
- Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association
- Weyerhaeuser
Results
| Choice | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | 1,042,679 | 51.73 | |
| Against | 972,747 | 48.27 | |
| Total | 2,015,426 | 100.00 | |
| Source: Washington Secretary of State | |||
By county
| County[8] | Yes | No | Margin | Total votes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Adams | 1,235 | 36.33% | 2,164 | 63.67% | -929 | -27.33% | 3,399 |
| Asotin | 3,351 | 47.06% | 3,769 | 52.94% | -418 | -5.87% | 7,120 |
| Benton | 15,923 | 33.08% | 32,205 | 66.92% | -16,282 | -33.83% | 48,128 |
| Chelan | 7,073 | 31.52% | 15,364 | 68.48% | -8,291 | -36.95% | 22,437 |
| Clallam | 15,247 | 51.87% | 14,150 | 48.13% | 1,097 | 3.73% | 29,397 |
| Clark | 57,446 | 51.77% | 53,513 | 48.23% | 3,933 | 3.54% | 110,959 |
| Columbia | 608 | 32.85% | 1,243 | 67.15% | -635 | -34.31% | 1,851 |
| Cowlitz | 12,697 | 42.24% | 17,362 | 57.76% | -4,665 | -15.52% | 30,059 |
| Douglas | 2,841 | 26.44% | 7,904 | 73.56% | -5,063 | -47.12% | 10,745 |
| Ferry | 1,249 | 46.40% | 1,443 | 53.60% | -194 | -7.21% | 2,692 |
| Franklin | 4,093 | 32.95% | 8,329 | 67.05% | -4,236 | -34.10% | 12,422 |
| Garfield | 406 | 35.93% | 724 | 64.07% | -318 | -28.14% | 1,130 |
| Grant | 5,381 | 27.97% | 13,857 | 72.03% | -8,476 | -44.06% | 19,238 |
| Grays Harbor | 8,684 | 40.28% | 12,874 | 59.72% | -4,190 | -19.44% | 21,558 |
| Island | 15,898 | 54.37% | 13,345 | 45.63% | 2,553 | 8.73% | 29,243 |
| Jefferson | 9,860 | 62.84% | 5,830 | 37.16% | 4,030 | 25.69% | 15,690 |
| King | 363,093 | 59.61% | 246,007 | 40.39% | 117,086 | 19.22% | 609,100 |
| Kitsap | 47,392 | 53.47% | 41,248 | 46.53% | 6,144 | 6.93% | 88,640 |
| Kittitas | 5,719 | 47.91% | 6,217 | 52.09% | -498 | -4.17% | 11,936 |
| Klickitat | 3,741 | 52.31% | 3,411 | 47.69% | 330 | 4.61% | 7,152 |
| Lewis | 9,508 | 38.69% | 15,067 | 61.31% | -5,559 | -22.62% | 24,575 |
| Lincoln | 1,468 | 32.23% | 3,087 | 67.77% | -1,619 | -35.54% | 4,555 |
| Mason | 8,995 | 43.22% | 11,816 | 56.78% | -2,821 | -13.56% | 20,811 |
| Okanogan | 4,890 | 39.31% | 7,549 | 60.69% | -2,659 | -21.38% | 12,439 |
| Pacific | 4,314 | 51.65% | 4,038 | 48.35% | 276 | 3.30% | 8,352 |
| Pend Oreille | 1,893 | 37.91% | 3,101 | 62.09% | -1,208 | -24.19% | 4,994 |
| Pierce | 105,093 | 51.15% | 100,362 | 48.85% | 4,731 | 2.30% | 205,455 |
| San Juan | 4,768 | 59.57% | 3,236 | 40.43% | 1,532 | 19.14% | 8,004 |
| Skagit | 17,575 | 44.75% | 21,701 | 55.25% | -4,126 | -10.51% | 39,276 |
| Skamania | 2,123 | 54.51% | 1,772 | 45.49% | 351 | 9.01% | 3,895 |
| Snohomish | 99,897 | 50.18% | 99,164 | 49.82% | 733 | 0.37% | 199,061 |
| Spokane | 71,732 | 47.63% | 78,858 | 52.37% | -7,126 | -4.73% | 150,590 |
| Stevens | 6,601 | 39.88% | 9,953 | 60.12% | -3,352 | -20.25% | 16,554 |
| Thurston | 46,980 | 57.07% | 35,341 | 42.93% | 11,639 | 14.14% | 82,321 |
| Wahkiakum | 750 | 43.86% | 960 | 56.14% | -210 | -12.28% | 1,710 |
| Walla Walla | 7,001 | 40.49% | 10,291 | 59.51% | -3,290 | -19.03% | 17,292 |
| Whatcom | 37,178 | 55.45% | 29,873 | 44.55% | 7,305 | 10.89% | 67,051 |
| Whitman | 6,065 | 47.90% | 6,597 | 52.10% | -532 | -4.20% | 12,662 |
| Yakima | 23,911 | 45.17% | 29,022 | 54.83% | -5,111 | -9.66% | 52,933 |
| Totals | 1,042,679 | 51.73% | 972,747 | 48.27% | 69,932 | 3.47% | 2,015,426 |