The Protect Washington Act is how we will Act on Climate.
We know that our region can be the first in the nation to have a 100% clean electrical grid, and that we can leverage that clean grid to rapidly accelerate the electrification of our transportation systems and buildings. A 100% clean energy future is within our reach—we just need to stretch our hands toward it to realize how close.
Right now, the people of Washington have the opportunity to advance one of the most ambitious, effective and far-reaching policies to tackle climate change, and move us dramatically forward on the path to 100% clean energy.
Initiative 1631, the Protect Washington Act, will allow us to address climate change—both fighting to prevent it and preparing our state for its inevitable impacts. We’re already gathering signatures across the state to get I-1631 on the ballot. Click here if you can help this weekend!
We understand that our transition to a clean energy future isn’t just about ending pollution, it’s also an opportunity to ensure that the new energy economy shares its wealth more equitably than the fossil fueled economic oligarchy we’re trying to leave behind. We believe that by joining hands across perspectives and constituencies and backgrounds, we can build something durable and stronger than the entrenched big oil opposition we fully expect to take on. That’s the promise I-1631 will deliver on.
Consider these benefits:
- Reducing climate pollution 40% by 2035 will create over 40,000 jobs in Washington state.
- Cutting pollution by 80% by 2050 will save Washington households $7 billion a year in energy costs.
- Ending our addiction to fossil fuels will help us put a dent in public health impacts that lead to sicker and shorter lives in places like the Duwamish Valley and other disadvantaged communities across our state.
- Taking seriously the threat of forest fires made worse by climate change, we can save lives and livelihoods for rural and agricultural communities.
I-1631 will do this while keeping low-income households financially whole. It will ensure that those who have borne the impacts of fossil fuel pollution also feel relief the soonest. The proposal, if adopted by the people of Washington, will be among the first in the world to put in law that our First Nations have the right to provide free, prior and informed consent to projects that impact their lands and people. It will dedicate over $600 million a year to clean energy investments, and another $300 million in projects that will make our forests and waterways resilient to impacts we know are coming.
You can help! Sign up to volunteer with Yes on I-1631. We’re gathering signatures this weekend (and throughout the spring) across the state—we need 260,000 to get on the ballot! Find a campaign event near you (map), or host your own signature-gathering event. Tell your friends. We hope you’ll join us!
Thanks for all you do,
Vlad Gutman-Britten
Washington Director
P.S. If you’re in the Seattle area next Thursday, join us for a Yes on 1631 campaign rally: 11:30 am at Centro de la Raza (2524 16th Ave S.; right next to the Beacon Hill light rail station).