Washington State Standard: Voters to decide on pace of Washington’s transition off natural gas

Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, holds a petition for a proposed ballot measure to block local and state efforts to transition away from use of natural gas. Anthony Anton, president of the Washington Hospitality Association, and Ryann Blake, owner of Chimney Techniques in Aberdeen, joined a news conference May 15, 2024 in Olympia, Wash. to kick off signature gathering. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)

By Jerry Cornfield

Let the battle over the future of natural gas in Washington begin.

State election officials have certified an initiative for the November ballot that seeks to reverse Washington’s controversial tactics to phase out natural gas use in homes and other buildings.

Supporters of Initiative 2066 began gathering signatures in mid-May and turned in 533,005 signatures earlier this month. State law required at least 324,516 be from registered voters.

“We knew the people of Washington opposed the idea of banning natural gas, but the support for this initiative shows just how strongly they feel about protecting natural gas for heating and cooking in their homes and businesses,” said Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, which is the measure’s sponsor.

The measure targets the state’s combination of regulations and laws to move swiftly away from natural gas toward technology like electric heat pumps.

It will appear first on ballots in Washington, followed by three other citizen initiatives that seek to repeal the state’s cap-and-trade system and capital gains tax and make the state’s new long-term care services program voluntary.

If passed, Initiative 2066 would repeal provisions of a new state law meant to hasten 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.”

And it would roll back recent changes to energy requirements in Washington’s building codes that are designed to get more electric heat pumps – instead of gas furnaces – installed in newly built houses, apartments and commercial buildings.

BIAW, the state’s leading voice for the homebuilding industry, is the force behind the measure. The Washington Hospitality Association, Washington Realtors and Associated General Contractors are also in the coalition of supporters.

Let’s Go Washington, which qualified the three other initiatives for the fall ballot, conducted the signature-gathering effort for the gas measure.

Critics of the measure say it would take a wrecking ball to state efforts to fight climate change and shift to clean and more more efficient energy sources.

“This is a massive overreach by those who want to undo clean energy progress in our state,” Caitlin Krenn, climate and clean energy director at Washington Conservation Action, said in a statement.