Voters Rejected Climate Change, New Energy Efforts

The Energy 202: Climate change initiatives were on the ballot. They didn't fare well.

Dino Grandoni, November 7, 2018 (Washington Post)

“…[Voters] largely rejected ballot initiatives aiming to nudge the nation away from burning fossil fuels and toward harnessing renewable sources of energy…Voters in Arizona, one of the nation’s most sun-soaked states, handily shot down a measure that would have accelerated its shift toward generating electricity from renewables, particularly solar. Supporters and proponents poured an eye-popping amount of money, more than $54 million, into the fight over the future of energy in Arizona. Only two Senate races in the country — in Florida and Texas — saw more spending this year…

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Residents in oil- and gas-rich Colorado defeated a measure to sharply limit drilling on state-owned land…[Washington voters rejected] a statewide initiative that would have imposed a first-in-the-nation fee on emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent of the greenhouse gases that drive global warming…[The failure of the ballot measures underscores the difficulty of tackling a global problem like climate change policy at the state and local level, as well as the huge sums of money any effort is likely to require from both sides.] One bright spot for environmental advocates came in Nevada, where voters [passed] a measure similar to the one Arizonans rejected. It would require utilities to generate 50 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2030…” click here for more

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