Thursday, the campaign urging Washingtonians to vote "no" on Initiative 2117 announced more than half of Washington state's tribal nations have endorsed their position.
The campaign held a news conference with tribal representatives at the site of a project they say would lose funding if the initiative passes.
Suquamish Tribal Chair Leonard Forsman, Tulalip Tribes Director of Treaty Rights and Government Affairs Ryan Miller and Tulalip Tribes restoration ecologist Brett Shattuck referenced a salmon restoration project at Spencer Island Park in Everett, noting the impacts it would have toward facilitating fish passage and supporting the overall ecosystem. The project is reliant on $500,000 in funding secured as a result of the Climate Commitment Act.
I-2117, sponsored by the group Let's Go Washington, would repeal portions of the act that allow the state to essentially charge top polluters for carbon emissions and use the revenue for projects mitigating or responding to climate change impacts.
Chairman Forsman said the restoration project is an example of righting wrongs due to pollution and environmental damage.
"We need to balance that out and work out a sustainable way for us to exist together, and honor this beautiful land and water and air we have," Forsman said. "This initiative would be detrimental to that."
The event comes as ads flood the airwaves describing the impacts I-2117 would have. The state says in the 2023 legislative session, $2.1 billion of Climate Commitment Act revenues were appropriated.
Meanwhile, Let's Go Washington, sponsored initially by Brian Heywood, has held events temporarily offering lower prices at gas stations to call attention to their campaign. Heywood takes issue with the way the money is being spent.
"The idea of it was, let's do something that's good for the environment, let's reduce carbon emissions," Heywood said. "The problem is, the way they spend it and the way they use the money, nothing is actually reducing carbon emissions."
Supporters of the act disagree.
"We really need this money to make this important project happen and there are projects like this all over the region," Shattuck said at Thursday's event.
Voters will have the chance to weigh in on the ballot in November.