Editor,

Initiative 2117, recently defeated, wasn’t about climate change, it was about cost for every energy user in Washington state added to their bills. Selling carbon credits to energy producers, that paid whatever the state charged them, is just passed through directly to energy users. It does not affect the energy producer, reduce emissions, affect the climate or affect the cause.

Citizens, rich, poor, and in between, need fuel for vehicles, heat for their homes, and companies and businesses require fuel to transport just about everything we eat and use daily, thus the Carbon Commitment Act cap and invest adds to the high costs of everything as shipping costs are added to consumer prices. Those with no skin in the game that won’t cost them anything, the climate change addicts, the uneducated, and purists, believe that making people pay more for energy will change behavior, control climate, and save the planet.

Wake up. The CCA in Washington state will not save anything climate related. We do not live in a bubble. China and India open new fossil-fueled plants weekly to support their economies while lone Washington state, in a noble effort to save the world’s climate, is punishing its citizens in the name of controlling climate change with high energy costs. Whatever this state does is minuscule, if that, in affecting climate.

Reviewing the voter pamphlet under Initiative 2117, it outlines where the dollars will go, and many recipients have nothing to do with climate and millions allocated appear to be supplements to the state budget for these departments and offices. The money is spread everywhere and no accountability as to the effectiveness of the use of the money toward climate change as the CCA claims.

Knowledgeable, concerned voters voted for I-2117. Unfortunately, others believed the hype promulgated by the state that stood to lose so much affecting climate change and defeated it. Now wait for the cost of carbon credits to increase, and they will, that will further impact your energy bill.

Washington state began selling carbon credits in January 2023, when the Climate Commitment Act cap-and-invest program went into effect and has already collected more than $2 billion since. A reexamination of where and what state money is spent on is sorely needed. Much is wasted on ineffective climate change initiatives and other useless programs that never go away.

Ed Hickey

Oak Harbor