Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Hospitality Association, loads a box of signed Initiative 2066 petitions into a cart for delivery to the Secretary of State’s Office on July 2, 2024. The proposed measure would halt the state’s push to end natural gas use in homes and buildings. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)
It’s now all but assured voters will get to weigh in this November on Washington’s polarizing efforts to phase out natural gas use in homes and other buildings.
Backers of an initiative aimed at reversing the state’s climate-oriented policies turned in more than 400,000 signatures in support of the measure on Tuesday. They delivered boxes of petitions for Initiative 2066 to the secretary of state’s office in Tumwater just 49 days after the first ones were signed .
Sponsors said they turned in 431,063 signatures, nearly 110,000 more than required to qualify for this fall’s general election.
“It is very simple. If you have natural gas, this protects you to be able to keep natural gas in your home or in your business. And it protects the freedom of every single Washingtonian to have the clean energy of their choice,” said Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, the measure’s main sponsor.