This afternoon, multimillionaire Brian Heywood and Washington State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh have several events planned to promote Initiative 2066, a measure they say they’ve collected over 425,000 signatures for, which is aimed at delaying and disrupting Washington’s clean energy future and could also ironically raise costs for those Washington households using petroleum gas for heating and cooking.

The Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI), a 501(c)(4) strategy center working from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to raise Pacific Northwesterners’ quality of life through insightful research and imaginative advocacy, says that Initiative 2066 deserves to be rejected by Washington voters should it qualify for the ballot. Having studied the measure’s text and conferred with specialists in energy policy, NPI assesses that the 2066 has both the potential to cause problems for Washington’s transition to a clean energy economy and raise costs for Washington households.

According to the official ballot measure summary prepared by the Attorney General’s office, I-2066 would: “require utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to eligible customers; prevent state approval of rate plans requiring or incentivizing gas service termination, restricting access to gas service, or making it cost-prohibitive; and prohibit the state energy code, localities, and air pollution control agencies from penalizing gas use. It would repeal sections of chapter 351, Laws of 2024, including planning requirements for cost-effective electrification and prohibitions on gas rebates and incentives.”

The case for Initiative 2066, as articulated to date by Heywood, Walsh, and Let’s Go Washington, has been built on a pile of lies and misinformation.

Heywood and Walsh and Republican surrogates speak of needing to overturn “the gas ban” passed by the Legislature in the 2024 session and preventing households from being forced to electrify.

Those are untruthful references to House Bill 1589, “an act relating to supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future” (see full text).

Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s largest private utility, has described HB 1589 as a planning bill on a web page that seeks to correct the record about the legislation, and that is a correct characterization.

Importantly, PSE states:

• “HB 1589 does not include a ban on natural gas, and it does not change PSE’s obligation to serve natural gas to our customers.”
• “There is no rate increase associated with HB 1589. It’s a planning bill, and there will be three years of rulemaking and work before we submit an integrated system plan to our regulators. That will only be a plan — it will not include a request to increase rates.”
• “Nothing in the bill forces electrification. What it does is requires PSE to develop a scenario demonstrating the costs of electrification that will be part of the integrated system plan we submit to our regulators in 2027.”

The nonpartisan staff analysis of HB 1589 is here.

A plain reading of the summary section shows that 1589 is indeed a planning bill.

Primarily, it updates the statutes that pertain to PSE’s reporting obligations to regulators.

1589 also requires PSE to end fossil gas incentives to residential customers starting next year:

Beginning January 1, 2025, no large combination utility [meaning, PSE] may offer any form of rebate, incentive, or other inducement to residential gas customers to purchase any natural gas appliance or equipment. Until January 1, 2031, this requirement does not apply to:

• electric heat pumps that include natural gas backups; or
• commercial and industrial customers

But again, HB 1589 doesn’t ban petroleum gas, contrary to what proponents have been saying in public and on petitions for Initiative 2066.

NPI’s board of directors voted last month to take a position opposing I-2066.

We oppose I-2066 because:

• It has the potential to increase Washingtonians’ costs
• It seeks to delay and disrupt our transition to a clean energy economy
• It disregards the latest scientific research showing that gas use harms human health
• It would make many new homes less safe
• It may not be constitutional

Let’s consider each of these points:

2066 has the potential to increase Washingtonians’ costs

Washingtonians are already grappling with higher prices for a long list of basics and necessities. Initiative 2066 has the potential to exacerbate that pain, because it increases the likelihood that families which remain gas customers will be stuck with escalating costs across a dwindling base. That’s irresponsible and wrong. According to Puget Sound Energy, “gas energy use is declining — down 7% for residential and 3% for commercial customers in 2023 and forecasted to continue to decline over the next five years” while “electricity use is increasing and forecasted to continue to rise.” This is the reality in the areas PSE serves, whether proponents want to admit it or not. House Bill 1589 seeks to empower Puget Sound Energy to plan for a smooth transition away from gas; I-2066 seeks to blow up that process. It is critical for voters to know that 2066 offers zero protection from higher prices going forward. Despite attempting to eliminate an incentivized pathway to more stable prices, proponents failed to put any provisions in their measure addressing affordability for households already on gas. Rather, 2066 is focused on facilitating new gas connections at a time when we are trying to reduce air and water pollution so we can lead happier, healthier lives and pay less for energy.

2066 seeks to delay and disrupt our transition to a clean energy economy

Petroleum gas is one of several major fossil fuels, the others being coal and oil, which are known to emit harmful pollutants when burned. Gas was once believed to be the cleanest of the three, but the latest scientific research indicates that gas consumption is just as bad for the Earth as other fossil fuels. In July of 2023, The New York Times reported on some of the newest research, explaining: “Natural gas, long seen as a cleaner alternative to coal and an important tool in the fight to slow global warming, can be just as harmful to the climate, a new study has concluded, unless companies can all but eliminate the leaks that plague its use. It takes as little as 0.2 percent of gas to leak to make natural gas as big a driver of climate change as coal, the study found. That’s a tiny margin of error for a gas that is notorious for leaking from drill sites, processing plants and the pipes that transport it into power stations or homes and kitchens.” And gas leaks are extremely common: a little over ten years ago, scientists used a high precision methane detection device to map more than 5,893 natural gas leaks throughout the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital. A similar study in Boston the year before that detected more than 3,300 natural gas leaks. 2066 aims to keep us wedded to this dangerous, leaky, polluting source of energy, rather than supporting a thoughtful transition to a clean energy economy.

2066 disregards the latest scientific research showing that gas use harms human health

Burning gas isn’t just bad for the planet, it’s also harmful to human health. In a 2022 article for Harvard Health Publishing, Dr. Wynne Armand detailed some of the latest scientific research, writing: “Cooking with gas stoves creates nitrogen dioxide and releases additional tiny airborne particles known as PM2.5, both of which are lung irritants. Nitrogen dioxide has been linked with childhood asthma. During 2019 alone, almost two million cases worldwide of new childhood asthma were estimated to be due to nitrogen dioxide pollution. Children living in households that use gas stoves for cooking are 42% more likely to have asthma, according to an analysis of observational research. While observational studies can’t prove that cooking with gas is the direct cause of asthma, data also show that the higher the nitrogen dioxide level, the more severe the asthma symptoms in children and adults.”

But it gets worse… here’s Armand again: “What’s more, a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and PSE Healthy Energy showed that gas appliances also introduce other toxic chemicals into homes. The researchers collected unburned gas from stoves and building pipelines in the greater Boston area. In their analysis, they identified 21 different hazardous air pollutants known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For example, benzene, hexane, and toluene were present in almost all of the gas samples tested. Exposure to some VOCs raises risks for asthma, cancer, and other illnesses.”

Responsible energy policy should be based on science. Sadly, Initiative 2066 ignores the best available science. Read the initiative’s intent section… there’s no acknowledgment of any of the health risks of gas use at all!

2066 would make many new homes less safe

Petroleum gas is flammable; we burn it for heat. That makes petroleum energy infrastructure inherently dangerous. There have been many explosions and fires caused by gas leaks over the years which have led to serious injuries and deaths. For example, in 2016, an explosion attributed to gas caused a massive explosion in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. A KOMO 4 article about the disaster begins: “A natural gas explosion rocked a Seattle neighborhood early Wednesday, sending nine firefighters to the hospital and reducing businesses to rubble… Crews were responding to reports of a natural gas leak when the explosion happened along the main thoroughfare of the city’s Greenwood neighborhood, just north of downtown, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Corey Orvold said. The blast occurred in the area of the Greenwood Quick Stop Market at N. 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue North. The business was destroyed by the force of the explosion. Two other businesses, Neptune Coffee and Mr. Gyros, were leveled as well. Seattle Fire officials say damage is estimated at $3 million.” Initiative 2066 contains several provisions aimed at ensuring that future homes get hooked up to gas, to unwisely perpetuate our reliance on fossil fuels. Proponents talk about energy “choice”, “security”, and “independence” in their materials; they don’t talk about safety, or acknowledge that piping a flammable substance into homes and businesses is a recipe for more fires and explosions, as we saw in Greenwood eight years ago. It is not possible to make petroleum gas use safe. At best, the risks of its use can only be reduced. It doesn’t make sense to enact policies that make new homes reliant on an older energy source that is known to be inherently dangerous when safer alternatives are available.

2066 may not be constitutional

The Washington State Constitution specifies that legislation must be confined to a single subject to deter logrolling (the practice of bundling unrelated proposals together in a single piece of legislation). This requirement is found in Article II, Section 19, and it applies to all legislation, whether adopted by the people or by the people’s elected representatives. The Washington State Supreme Court has tossed out a number of initiatives from the last twenty-five years as unconstitutional because they did not adhere to Article II, Section 19. Having read I-2066 several times, the NPI team questions whether it can withstand constitutional scrutiny. The measure amends numerous statutes to insert pro-gas provisions into different places in the Revised Code of Washington. One provision is aimed at municipalities, some target utilities, one is directed at the state building code council, and a few more are aimed at the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC). Because all of these provisions have been bundled together into a single initiative, voters must consider them collectively. They can’t, for example, vote for just a partial repeal of House Bill 1589, because proponents concocted an initiative that seeks to sprinkle pro-gas language into other places in state law. For example, a Washington voter might be in favor of getting rid of some of the language in HB 1589, but not requiring cities and towns to “provide natural gas to those inhabitants that demand, apply for, and are reasonably entitled to receive, natural gas under this section, even if other energy services or energy sources may be available” (Sec 3, sub 2 of I-2066).

NPI will campaign for I-2066’s defeat

The NPI team has over two decades of experience organizing opposition through its Permanent Defense project to harmful initiatives that threaten Washington’s future.

We will use that experience to support the creation of a vigorous, effective opposition campaign to Initiative 2066.

“Washingtonians deserve lower costs and clean energy, but Initiative 2066 would take us backwards on both fronts. It has the potential to make gas less affordable for those Evergreen State families currently using it, while hindering our transition to a clean energy economy,” said Northwest Progressive Institute founder and executive director Andrew Villeneuve.

“We all win when public policy is based on science, and prioritizes safety and human health. But Initiative 2066 disregards the best available science. It would make our homes and businesses less safe and expose us to more pollution… and again, all while potentially making gas less affordable for those households already using it. We can’t afford the costs that I-2066’s proponents want our state’s families to pay indefinitely due to their infatuation with this dirty, leaky, unsafe form of energy.”

“It’s imperative that we reject I-2066 this November. We at NPI will do our part to bring together a broad and inclusive coalition of people and organizations that care about Washington’s future to make the case against this destructive initiative.”