If passed, Initiative 2117 would repeal the state’s new Climate Commitment Act, which has raised more than $2B for projects like electrifying transit.
by John Stang in Crosscut
The M/V Guemes crosses the channel between Anacortes and Guemes Island. The 45-year-old vessel is scheduled to be replaced by a newer model, paid for with cap-and-invest dollars, unless voters decide to kill that program in the fall election. (John Stang for Cascade PBS)
It takes about five minutes to cross the channel between Anacortes and Guemes Island. But the trip seems a lot longer to the people waiting in their cars to board the ferry that takes them across.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, traffic backed up on both sides of the channel, waiting for the ferry. The 45-year-old vessel can handle 21 cars and 100 passengers per trip. When the ferry left the dock with a full load, about 12 to 15 vehicles had to wait another 25 minutes for the M/V Guemes to make the round trip.
Although wide enough to need a ferry, the channel is also so narrow that you can hear the ferry engines rev up as the M/V Guemes leaves the opposite shore. Guemes Island is home to 700 to 900 people, with a rustic general store/gas station/tavern, a couple parks and a bunch of artist studios. Unless you have your own boat, it costs $13.50 per car to get to the island; nothing to get off. A 2013 study said the M/V Guemes had 10 years remaining before its innards would start to fail.
Last January, the ferry shut down for one-and-a-half weeks due to a cracked bracket that holds an underwater propulsion thruster used to maneuver the ferry. During that downtime, a passenger-only ferry took over the route, though it was threatened at times by high winds and waves.
The Skagit County Public Works Department, which operates the ferry, believes it would be cheaper in the long run to get a new ferry than just replacing broken parts, said Jennifer Rogers, the department’s spokeswoman.
The price tag for a new Guemes Island electric ferry is $45 million. With $10 million from cap-and-invest revenue allocated by the Legislature to build a new ferry, the project is on its way.
The money being raised by Washington’s new Climate Commitment Act — the formal name for the cap-and-invest program — is doing more than shore up the state budget. The more than $2 billion collected from quarterly carbon auctions is being used to address climate change and for climate-adjacent projects like the ferry system. (continued)