It’s Election Day! Around the country voters are not only preparing to elect their favored candidates, some will vote on ballot measures that could impact U.S. energy production and policy.
The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Energy Team has compiled the most important energy-focused ballot measures this election. Americans will vote on measures dealing with hydraulic fracturing, solar panels, the gas tax and even a carbon tax.
California
Monterey County voters will decide Tuesday whether or not to ban fracking inside county lines. The ballot measure, called Measure Z, would restrict fracking new wells and further regulate how oil companies dispose of wastewater.
So why is this important?
If passed, Monterey would be the first local government with a good amount of oil and gas activity to ban fracking. Neighboring San Benito and Santa Cruz counties have already banned fracking, but neither county has much oil and gas activity.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is one of the big names to support the ballot measure on the grounds “fracking is not safe, and is not what we need for our kids.”
A coalition of businesses, unions and local officials have opposed the ballot on the grounds it will gut Monterey’s economy.
“Oil production has been a vital part of the Monterey County economy for more than 60 years,” Sabrina Lockhart, a spokesperson for Monterey County Citizens for Energy Independence, told The Californian.
Read TheDCNF’s coverage of Measure Z.
Colorado
Coloradans will head to the polls Tuesday to vote on Amendment 71, which would make it harder to amend the state constitution.
Environmentalists oppose the amendment because it’ll make it more difficult to propose amendments to ban fracking statewide or allow local government to ban fracking. The measure was proposed in response to past failed anti-fracking ballot measures.
The amendment would require a future constitutional amendment to get signatures from all 35 of Colorado’s state senate districts, and it would require 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Read TheDCNF’s Amendment 71 coverage here.
Florida
Floridians will vote Tuesday on Amendment 1.
The amendment, backed by utilities, gives Florida residents the right to install solar panels on their rooftops, but would also protect non-solar residents from subsidizing those who own panels.
Basically, the measure prevents solar panel owners from selling the power they produce back to utilities at or near retail rates. Such an arrangement means utilities can’t recoup their fixed costs, thereby forcing non-solar customers to pay more.
Solar companies oppose the amendment because their business models are largely based on customers getting tax subsidies and high prices for the electricity they produce.
Read TheDCNF’s coverage of Amendment 1 here.
New Jersey
Garden State voters will decide if they want to do with the recently-raise state gas tax.
Public Question 2 asks voters if the government should “dedicate all revenue from gas taxes to transportation projects,” according to Ballotpedia. Republican Gov. Chris Christie and state lawmakers raised the gas tax by 23 cents in October to pay for new roads and infrastructure.
The state legislature would use the gas tax revenues and another $12 billion in borrowed money to pay for infrastructure projects.
It’s become a political lightning rod, and the ballot question has been opposed by Republicans who oppose higher gas taxes and taking on billions more in debt to finance government infrastructure spending.
Here’s what The Record wrote of the ballot question.
Washington
Washington voters will decide if the state should tax carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to fight global warming.
Initiative 732 would impose a $15 per metric ton tax on CO2 emissions that would steadily rise to $25 per metric ton by 2018. After that, the tax would increase at a rate of 3.5 percent per year above the rate of inflation until it hits $100 per metric ton.
If passed, Washington would be the first U.S. state to tax CO2 emissions.
Washington Democrats and green energy companies support the measure, arguing it would cut state emissions and raise as much as $350 million every year. They also say the CO2 tax would be offset by a 1 percent sales tax reduction and tax credits to low-income families.
What’s interesting is environmentalists don’t back the measure because it doesn’t do enough to help poor people who’d be hurt by more expensive energy. Former White House green jobs czar Van Jones said the initiative “leaves a massive hole in Washington’s budget without investing anything into the state’s future success — in green jobs, clean energy, or underserved communities — and that’s why we have to stop it.”
Read TheDCNF’s coverage of Initiative 32 here.
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