By John McClaughry

The very liberal Washington Post ran a story on Nov. 7 on the fate of climate change issues on state ballots.

Their reporters wrote that “voters across a swath of resource-rich Western states largely rejected ballot initiatives aiming to nudge the nation away from burning fossil fuels and toward harnessing renewable sources of energy.”

Solar panels are unable to generate power at night when residents are more dependent on electricity.

“Voters in Arizona, one of the nation’s most sun-soaked states, handily shot down a measure that would have accelerated its shift toward generating electricity from renewables, particularly solar. “

“Residents in oil- and gas-rich Colorado defeated a measure to sharply limit drilling on state-owned land. Environmental advocates there failed to pass a measure that would have required new wells to be at least 2,500 feet from occupied buildings and other “vulnerable areas” such as parks and irrigation canals — a distance several times that of existing regulations. It also would have allowed local governments to require even longer setbacks.”

The most closely watched carbon tax initiative was in Washington. Results from that state Friday showed that the carbon tax initiative had gone down to defeat by a 56-44 margin – compared to its 59-41 defeat two years ago. The Seattle Times assailed the initiative as “porous, lacking accountability and larded with special-interest payouts” and recommended a no vote.

Will next year’s even more liberal legislature renew its push for a carbon tax, or whatever new label they think up for it? Of course it will.

John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.