With the carbon fee defeat, what next on climate?

Grief was the first emotion I saw permeate activists and concerned citizens when Washington voters failed to pass ballot Initiative 1631 on Tuesday night.

Had we won, Washington would have become the first state in the union to make big industrial polluters pay for the colossal tons of carbon dioxide they emit into our atmosphere, returning an estimated $1 billion in annual revenue for clean air, clean water, clean energy and healthy forests for our children.

It is difficult to understand the rejection of such a common-sense initiative in this day and age. A massive coalition of hundreds of businesses, unions, tribal nations, environmental organizations, communities of color and more endorsed I-1631 — everyone from The Nature Conservancy to the American College of Physicians to Bill Gates. Editorial boards from The New York Times, USA Today and The Olympian could see the reasoning and the imperative and gave their thumbs up.

What is more, as if by divine timing, the measure went to voters right after publication of a landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in which the world’s leading scientists warned we are on course for disastrous climate instability due to a warming planet within a few short years.

None of that mattered to the fossil fuel industry. Chevron, BP and others flooded the opposition campaign with record contributions, financing a barrage of television attack ads widely blamed for the initiative’s failure.

“It’s hard to beat $32 million worth of ads that are filled with lies and deception,” state Rep. Beth Doglio lamented to Democrats at an election night watch party in Lacey when it became evident I-1631 was going down.

“I know the people in my community want clean air, clean water and a clean energy future,” Doglio told me later. She personally canvassed for I-1631. “Those ads were relentless — and they worked.”

The extraordinary power of special interests seemingly invested in marching humanity over the cliff explains the next emotion that has arisen in the wake of the carbon fee’s defeat: anger.

Well directed, anger is not a bad thing when one speaks for the Earth and the voiceless species being ravaged by record storms, droughts and fires, with the promise of much worse to come. Knowing the determination and dedication of pressure groups in Thurston County and beyond, I expect to see the energy of the Yes on I-1631 campaign rebound as renewed, ever more persuasive advocacy for the necessary transition from dirty fossil fuels to a clean energy future.

I expect to see even stronger partnerships develop between these groups and our Washington state Legislature, under the leadership of climate champion Gov. Jay Inslee. Buoyed by expected Democratic majorities in the House and Senate following final midterm results, Doglio says we also should expect to see a slew of waiting-in-the-wings bills move forward on a 100 percent renewable clean energy standard, clean buildings, a clean fuels standard and clean transportation, to name a few.

A victory by Democratic challenger Tye Menser for a seat on the Thurston County Board of Commissioners would be further good news for climate issues, as he is supportive of mitigation and adaptation plans underway by the cities of Olympia, Tumwater and Lacey. As of this writing, Menser is holding a tight lead over incumbent Bud Blake.

“The plans need to be as strong as we can reasonably and responsibly make them,” Menser said in an interview on Thursday. He added that with an additional 100,000 people predicted to move into the county by 2040, he is a proponent for responsible growth management that protects the local environment from urban sprawl.

As for directly taking on Big Oil again, “The issue is not going away, and neither are we,” the I-1631 coalition said in a statement after Tuesday’s elections. “We stand ready to fight in next year’s legislature and beyond.”

I, too, feel sadness and anger brought by this defeat. What a missed opportunity — for Washington, the entire country, perhaps the world. Yet here we still stand, more determined than ever to build a resilient and healthy local community, one that receives all the energy it needs from clean, renewable sources that do no harm, and one that is as well prepared for a hotter, more challenging future, as we can possibly be.