Will natural gas initiative impact cities in North King County?

Natural gas pipes at Shoreline Place - photo by Oliver Moffat

By Oliver Moffat

Voters and city councils in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Kenmore opposed the pro-natural gas initiative. But little progress has been made reducing pollution from natural gas

Statewide, voters approved Initiative 2066 (the pro-natural gas measure) with 51.7% of the vote, but the measure was not popular in North King County. In Shoreline and Lake Forest Park, only 36% of voters voted “Yes” while in Kenmore 42% supported the measure. 

Amongst other new rules the measure forbids cities from discouraging the use of natural gas. In October the city councils of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Kenmore all unanimously opposed the initiative. Kenmore’s 2022 Climate Action Plan set a goal to reduce fossil fuel use in buildings 20% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. 

While Shoreline’s 2022 Climate Action Plan set a goal to reduce natural gas usage 60% by 2030 and 98% by 2050. And the 2024 Lake Forest Park Climate Action Plan says the city will “eliminate natural gas usage in LFP” but does not set a date.

A spokesperson for Shoreline said that like other agencies across the state, the city is still in the early stages of analyzing what impact the initiative would have on building codes, incentive programs and the city’s Climate Action Plan. The city’s Energize Shoreline program provides education about heat pumps and promotes discounts on heat pumps.

Shoreline's 2022 Climate Action Plan says energy use in buildings and homes is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the city after transportation. 

The city set a target to reduce natural gas usage 60% by 2030 and 98% by 2050 and named eleven actions to either encourage building efficiency and electrification or discourage the use of natural gas appliances and heaters. 

However, the 2023 Climate Action Plan status report says the city had only begun work on three of those eleven actions.

In 2006, the Shoreline council signed the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement committing to “make energy efficiency a priority through building code improvements.” 

The city’s 2013 Climate Action Plan said the Shoreline pool accounted for almost 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from city-owned facilities yet despite the city closing the pool in 2020, the city said natural gas pollution has increased by 7% compared to 2019.

Charts from the Climate Action Plans of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Kenmore show the percentage of greenhouse gas pollution from various sources

The Lake Forest Park Climate Action Plan (adopted by the city council earlier this year) says natural gas is the second largest source of emissions and that 75% of buildings in the city use natural gas. 

The plan says the city will encourage a transition from gas to electric and solar, pass building codes requiring electrification and restrict the addition of new gas lines. 

On November 14, the Lake Forest Park city council amended a policy in its draft Comprehensive Plan to avoid legal issues from I-2066.

In an emailed response to questions, Lake Forest Park council members Larry Goldman and Tracy Furutani said “It's worth pointing out that while I-2066 prohibits cities from discouraging natural gas, it doesn't prohibit cities from encouraging other energy sources and appliances. 

"We will consider how the city might be able to continue to educate residents about the benefits of heat pumps and other appliances in a way that is consistent with I-2066.”

Kenmore’s 2022 Climate Action Plan said the city would incentivize a full transition to electric or solar and enact building codes to phase out fossil fuel infrastructure in new construction. 

Kenmore’s website promotes heat pumps, solar and building efficiency. 

Kenmore’s Mayor Nigel Herbig said, “I question whether we could even host events encouraging people to solarize or things like that under the language of this initiative. I worry that that could be construed as discouraging the use of gas even if that’s not the actual case. Nobody is shutting off anybody’s gas. Nobody is coming for your stove.”

Opponents of the I-2066 have said they plan to sue to stop enforcement of the measure because it is overly broad and misled voters and Governor Inslee said he expects the courts to overturn the initiative.