The Washington Secretary of State, Steve Hobbs, has certified I-2066 for the November 5th statewide ballot. I-2066 allows voters to decide on keeping or rejecting Gov. Jay Inslee’s law restricting future natural gas hook-ups by Puget Sound Energy to new homes and businesses.
KVI’s John Carlson interviews I-2066 campaign organizer and founder of LetsGoWashington.com, Brian Heywood, who has now qualified seven statewide initiatives within the last year.
To hear the interview, click the play button below.
Carlson says I-2066 “seizes power from the government… and puts it… in the hands of consumers themselves.”
Heywood tells KVI, “At the very basic level, the question that everybody should be asking themselves is: why should the government be telling or dictating to us what we can and can’t use to heat our homes? And I think that’s another answer back to the critics. They pretend like ‘oh, people are forced to use natural gas in their homes.’ No, at any time they can change. If they don’t want natural gas they can switch (to electric) and they can change their appliances (stove, furnace). What I don’t like is the government forcing people to make that change. And that’s a huge difference between our position and the position of the opposition (to I-2066).”
Democrats in the Washington Legislature during the 2024 session in March passed a ban on future natural gas hook-ups by the state’s largest utility, Puget Sound Energy. The law was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee. Critics and opponents of the law say it is a first step that will lead to future restrictions on existing natural gas service because majority Democrats and Gov. Inslee have promised a reduction in carbon emissions from sources like natural gas.
