Washington's carbon fee initiative expected to fail

(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)

SPOKANE, Wash. -Washington's carbon fee initiative is likely to fail in midterm elections Tuesday night.

Initiative 1631 would have put a $15 per ton fee on sources of carbon pollution but was failing in most of Washington's counties where 56.3 percent had voted no as of Tuesday night.

The fee would have been assessed on oil refined into gasoline, diesel or heating oil. Which may have led to higher prices at the pump for Washington drivers. Utilities that use natural gas or coal to generate electricity and natural gas suppliers also would have been assessed a fee.

The Spokesman-Review reports those fees would have collected an estimated $2.3 billion in the first five years. The money would have been divided so that 70 percent went to clean air and water projects, 20 percent to conservation and forest preservation and 10 percent to low income assistance.

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