Ballot Initiative 937 (official name Initiative measure no. 937 , known as I-937 ) is a clean energy initiative passed in the US state of Washington , appearing on the ballot in the November 2006 elections . It passed with 52 percent of the vote.[ 2]
Content of the proposal
The initiative requires large utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from new renewable resources such as solar and wind (but excluding hydro ) by 2020 with incremental steps of 3% by 2012 and 9% by 2016. It also requires that utilities undertake all cost-effective energy conservation .[ 3]
Precedents
Similar legislation has been enacted in at least 20 other states including the following. (The table is sorted by date and then by descending percentage. I-937 is included in bold.)
Unless indicated otherwise, data are from [ 5]
Supporters
Supporters included the following:[ 6]
Elected officials
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray
U.S. Congressmen Jay Inslee , Adam Smith , Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott
State Senators Luke Esser (R), Dave Schmidt (R), Debbie Regala (D), Bill Finkbeiner (R), Erik Poulsen (D), Karen Fraser (D), Craig Pridemore (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D), Karen Keiser (D)
State Representatives Toby Nixon (R), Zach Hudgins (D), Brian J. Sullivan (D), Fred Jarrett (R), Pat Sullivan (D), Geoff Simpson (D), Rodney Tom (D), Dave Upthegrove (D), Brendan Williams (D)
King County Executive Ron Sims Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Civic and political organizations
Health organizations
Energy and labor
Environmental
Faith
Newspapers
Opponents
Opponents included many small co-op electrical providers (even though the initiative affects only utilities with greater than 25,000 customers) as well as the following:[ 7]
Big Bend Electrical Cooperative Archived 2006-08-13 at the Wayback Machine Boeing Boise Cascade Chamber of Commerces: Bellevue, Greater Seattle, Kelso-Longview, Pasco, Spokane Regional, Tacoma-Pierce County, Wenatchee Valley, West Richland Area
Modern Electric Water Company National Association of Manufacturers Peninsula Light Company PUDs of Benton, Cowlitz, Franklin, Lewis, and Mason County.
Representatives Brian Blake (D) and Dean Takko
Senators Jean Berkey (D) and Mark L. Doumit (D)
Tanner Electric Cooperative Archived 2006-12-05 at the Wayback Machine U.S. Chamber of Commerce Washington Farm Bureau Washington Rural Electric Cooperative Association Weyerhaeuser
References
External links
