(The Center Square) – Natural gas access will remain an option in Washington state with the passage of Initiative 2066.
With more than 3.5 million votes tallied as of Friday evening, 51.53% (1,729,456 votes) were in favor of approving I-2066 to 48.47% (1,627,006 votes) opposed.
I-2066 will repeal the provisions of a new state law, House Bill 1589, meant to speed up Puget Sound Energy’s transition away from natural gas. It also bars cities and counties from prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging “the use of gas for any form of heating, or for uses related to any appliance or equipment, in any building.”
“Today we are celebrating I-2066 being approved by voters alongside the 533,005 Washingtonians who signed their name to protect energy choice in our state. The legislature’s decision to eliminate natural gas as an energy source was clear overreach,” said Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington, the organization behind the initiative, in a statement. “We fought for Washington’s rural communities that couldn’t survive the freezing winters and grid blackouts without natural gas. We fought for small businesses who could not afford to retrofit their buildings to electric. We fought for Washingtonians tired of being forced to comply with policies that make their lives more difficult from a legislature that has proven they aren’t listening to citizens. We are proud to stand with the BIAW who is leading the charge to cut costs for home builders and home buyers and take the homeless crisis head-on by providing affordable and attainable housing options for our state. We remain committed to fighting for the people of our state, we are overjoyed to be sharing this victory with our supporters and we will continue working to fix what’s broken.”