Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday an initiative to repeal cap-and-trade suffered a “thumping,” showing the rest of the country that fighting climate change was a winning policy.

I-2117 received only 38% of the vote, according to the Secretary of State’s vote count as of Wednesday afternoon. The measure sought to abolish the main climate bill of Inslee’s three terms.

“It wasn’t just a fanny-whipping, it was a tail-kicking that it got,” Inslee said at a press conference in Seattle.

I-2117’s defeat cements a tax on fossil fuels that went into effect Jan. 1, 2023. Cap-and-trade requires oil and natural gas producers to bid for a limited number of allowances to emit carbon.

Companies and utilities have indicated in filings with the Securities Exchange Commission they intend to pass the tax along to customers.

Most Eastern Washington counties voted to repeal cap-and-trade, but only two Western Washington counties voted for repeal. I-2117 was rejected by 75% of the voters in King County.

Inslee said result was especially important with Donald Trump returning to the White House. Cap-and-trade’s repeal would have dampened enthusiasm for climate change action at a “dark moment,” he said.

“It is a winning message to stand against climate change,” Inslee said.

Allowance auctions have raised approximately $2.45 billion for government programs. “The polluters are the ones paying for this,” the governor said.

Washington Policy Center environmental analyst Todd Myers said cap-and-trade taxes are being passed on to consumers. Myers recently printed on his blog a BP invoice showing a a cap-and-trade charge of 56 cents a gallon on wholesale fuel.

“Prices are going to go up in December because that’s when the next auction is,” Myers said. “Prices will jump.”

Kennewick Republican Matt Boehnke, a member of the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, said voters have upheld cap-and-trade, but he expects Republicans to push for reforms.

Boehnke said he opposes combining Washington’s cap-and-trade auctions with California and Quebec’s joint cap-and-trade auctions. The Department of Ecology is investigating linking the auctions.

Also, lawmakers should require Ecology to provide more timely reports on carbon emissions so people know whether cap-and-trade is reducing greenhouse gases, he said. The most current carbon inventory is from 2019.

“We’re going to push back on these things in this session and in the future,” Boehnke said. 

Campaign flyers mailed by the No on 2117 campaign omitted mention of climate change. Instead, they warned repealing cap-and-trade would lead to more traffic, wildfires and the loss of jobs, and cautioned voters about being duped by “mega-millionaires.”

The No on 2117 committee reported raising $16.4 million as of Nov. 1, according to the Public Disclosure Committee. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, contributed $2.5 million.

Two other billionaires, Bill Gates and data analytics company founder Chris Stolte, contributed $1 million apiece. The Nature Conservancy contributed $2.74 million, and Microsoft contributed $1 million.

The committee supporting I-2117, Let’s Go Washington, reported raising $9.5 million and did not report a contribution over $100,000.