Last night, across the county, citizens’ cast their votes on ballot initiatives ranging from renewable energy portfolio requirements to increasing taxes to fund global warming programs. The results were mixed. Note: Most of the vote totals below are those that I found on the morning after the election on the respective Secretary of State web sites. The vote totals could change but the results are not expected to change.
For more details on the original proposals below see our previous story in Democratic Energy.
20 Percent Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard – Fargo and Grand Forks, ND
Voters have rejected an initiative requiring 20 percent renewable electricity standard by 2020 in Grand Forks and Fargo ND. The results were not very close with “no” votes winning by a 53-47 percent split in Grand Forks and 56-44 percent margin in Fargo. The Grand Forks Herald reports that despite the initiative’s defeat, “the future of wind power in North Dakota is by no means bleak. At least 600 MW of wind power is in the development pipeline.”
Climate Tax Assessment for Funding for GHG Reduction Projects – Boulder, CO
The referendum (Ballot issue 202) to establish of charge on electricity users to raise revenue to support Boulder’s Climate Action Plan passed by a substantial margin last night. Boulder voters cast 21,866 votes for the measure (60.5 percent) and 14,281 against (39.5 percent).
Bridging the Gap Includes Funding for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Projects – Seattle, WA
Seattle announced their Climate Change Action plan this year and asked voters as part of their “Bridging the Gap” initiative (Proposition 1) to approve additional property tax revenues to fund programs to increase transit ridership and decrease driving in the city. Voters approved the initiative 52,480 (54 percent) to 44,722 (46 percent).
Oil Extraction Tax to Fund Clean Energy – California
This initiative (Proposition 87) would have established a tax on oil production in California to fund a $4 billion program to reduce oil and gasoline usage by 25%. Supporters and opponents of the measure spent more than $150 million to influence voters, with two-thirds of that amount coming from the oil industry that was opposed to the proposal. The vote tally (with 99.9 percent of precincts reporting) was 45.3 percent to 54.7 percent – 3,017,135 in favor and 3,631,509 votes against.
Renewable Energy 15-by-20 Plan – Washington
This renewable energy measure (Initiative I-937) requires investor-owned and consumer-owned electric utilities with 25,000 or more customers (17 out of 62 utilities statewide) to meet designated targets for energy conservation and use of eligible renewable energy resources. Voters in Washington decided that this was a good idea and the initiative passed by a close vote. As of late night November 9th, there were 758,697 (51.7 percent) in favor and 706,068 (48.2 percent) votes against.
More:
- Ballot Initiative Strategy Center – has listings of the state level initiatives around thecountry
