In Washington state, Inslee’s final months were spent delaying the repeal of a landmark climate law.

SILVERDALE, Wash. — Standing in a transit center near four new wireless bus charging stations in a small community west of Seattle, Governor Jay Inslee told transit and city officials where the money to pay for them — more than $1 million — was coming from.

“This is only possible thanks to the Climate Commitment Act“That was the source. That’s the only way we can do it,” Inslee said, citing a program that aims to reduce pollution while raising money for investments to combat climate change.

Inslee made similar remarks as he toured a salmon habitat restoration project and later test-drove a car from an all-electric ride-sharing cooperative, part of a blitz by the three-term Democrat in recent months to champion the biggest climate achievement of his term amid a fierce repeal effort by conservatives. Inslee, who is not seeking a fourth term, has appeared on more than a dozen projects funded by the bill and, in his spare time, has signed a series of emails, text messages and calls to constituents.

Behind the repeal effort is Let’s Go Washington, a group funded primarily by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, which has submitted more than 400,000 signatures from Washingtonians to get a vote on the November ballot. They say the law has helped drive up gas prices to what they currently are third highest in the country.

Repealing the law would scupper Washington’s plans to link its carbon market to others, and could deal a blow to its efforts to help other states launch similar programs. And for Inslee — who put climate at the forefront of his brief 2019 presidential campaign — repeal would be a particularly heartbreaking loss.

He talked about a carbon pricing program as soon as he took office, and recommended The legislature capped emissions in 2014. It wasn’t until 2021, four years after Democrats took control of both legislative chambers, that the CCA was approved and enthusiastically signed by Inslee.

Washington was the second state to launch such a program, after California, with particularly strict annual targets to start with and aimed at reducing emissions by nearly half, compared to 1990 levels, by 2030.

In February 2023, the state held its first quarterly auction of emissions allowances for companies that emit at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide or its equivalent, also known as CO2e. Companies like BP must purchase allowances based on their total emissions, with one allowance equaling one metric ton of CO2e. Each year, the number of available allowances decreases.

The auctions have raised over $2 billionwith money being used for everything from transportation to education. Inslee recently announced that $52 million from the program would go to tribes to address climate change.

But from the beginning, the issue of gasoline prices has rankled some Washingtonians. Inslee had promised that the program would have a negligible effect on gas prices while making huge investments in key climate programs. But the campaign to repeal the program claims that the CCA has increased costs by 43 to 53 cents per gallon, citing the conservative think tank Washington Policy Center. Gas prices have climbed as high as $5.12 per gallon since the auction began, though they have hovered around $4.24 this month, according to GasBuddy.

“For Washington state road users, those pennies represent hundreds of dollars lost in a program that did not do what it was advertised to do,” Let’s Go Washington said in a statement in March.

Inslee responded that Washington saw “dramatic swings” in gas prices well before the carbon pricing program, noting that its all-time high of $5.54 came several months before the auction began.

The win-win narrative that Inslee advocates is a common one within the climate movement, said Aseem Prakash, a political science professor and founding director of the University of Washington’s Center for Environmental Policy. But it’s not working because there’s growing evidence that the climate transition comes at a cost, Prakash said.

“He’s playing defense on cost…and that’s a losing strategy, because the narrative now is that the Conservatives are saying we told you so, they’re going to tax you,” Prakash said.

For some climate advocates, the vote goes far beyond the politics of a single state. Washington is in the process of linking its carbon market to those of California and Quebec, which have also auctioned off emissions allowances. That could make the market more stable and could happen as early as next year, said Becky Kelley, Inslee’s senior climate policy adviser. Washington is also helping other states launch similar programs.

“If this initiative passes here, it would certainly create a freeze and slow down states and even the country’s response to the climate crisis,” said David Mendoza, director of policy and government relations at The Nature Conservancy in Washington.

State law prohibits the governor’s office from holding political or campaign events, so Inslee was careful to say he would have participated in climate-law-funded projects with or without the repeal vote. But it’s clear he cares deeply about the outcome, citing his six grandchildren when asked what repeal would mean for his climate legacy.

“I think about my grandchildren, that’s my legacy. I’m proud of that legacy. And I’m determined to give them a chance,” he said. “And they should have clean air to breathe. They should have salmon in the water. And they shouldn’t have to deal with wildfires all the time. That’s what I care about. That’s how I see this issue, through the eyes of my grandchildren.”

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