On November 8, residents of Middleton, Wisconsin will have the opportunity to do something no other city in the United States has done: pass a referendum instructing the city to take action to fight, and prepare for, climate change.
The Middleton Climate Referendum poses two questions to voters. First, should the city of Middleton act to reduce the threat of climate change through its actions and policies? And second, should the city of Middleton support a federal price on carbon that funnels the profits back to taxpayers (a strategy known as carbon fee and dividend)?
“We’re looking to make a statement for Middleton as a community itself, and to inspire other communities to take action as well,” Kermit Hovey, Middleton Climate Referendum project coordinator, told ThinkProgress. “We want to be part of encouraging and inspiring people to build the political will for a livable world.”
“We want to be part of encouraging and inspiring people to build the political will for a livable world.”
The campaign was inspired by a national push from the Citizen’s Climate Lobby, a group dedicated to furthering the cause of a carbon fee and dividend at the national level. Over the last few years, Citizen’s Climate Lobby has scored the endorsement of 33 municipalities, all of which have passed resolutions calling for climate action or a carbon fee and dividend.
In August, the California State Assembly became the first statewide legislative body to pass a resolution calling for a carbon fee and dividend, asking Congress to place a fee on carbon emissions from fossil fuels and send the funds earned from that tax back to middle and low-income households.
But Middleton would become the first city to endorse climate action, and a carbon fee and dividend scheme specifically, not through a resolution passed by a mayor, city council, or state assembly, but a referendum passed directly by voters. And that, Hovey said, is an important distinction.
“A resolution can be a below-the-radar thing in terms of public and community engagement, and a referendum really forces the community to engage with the issue so that they become aware of it and get behind it,” he said. “It unifies the community to speak with one voice and have that added political gravity.”
The idea for the referendum came from the city’s sustainability committee, which earlier this year asked volunteers from the local chapter of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby to speak about a carbon fee and dividend strategy. After Dick Smith, a volunteer with Citizen’s Climate Lobby for over five years, spoke to the committee, Hovey said city officials were as convinced as ever that climate action was necessary for the town. They worked to draft language that would appear on the ballot in November, with the final referendum language passing the Middleton City Council by a vote of six to two.
The Middleton City Council has done some work with climate action in the past — mostly in the form of a community solar initiative with the local utility — but passing the referendum would be a signal to elected officials that climate policy is supported citywide, and at a larger scale.
“If they can say we want to do this and the voters spoke, then they have more of a mandate to carry this forward,” Hovey said.
“A referendum really forces the community to engage with the issue.”
So far, the Middleton electorate — which has a population around 18,500 and leans Democratic — has been receptive to the referendums. The ad hoc campaign group for the referendum has about 10 workers, as well as another 20 or so committed volunteers; the group has largely been focusing on grassroots get out the vote efforts, including leafletting, yard signs, and door to door campaigning.
“For the most part, [voter response] has been positive,” Hovey said. “My sense is, at least for the people willing to engage us, it’s positive. ‘Thanks for doing this,’ is a common response, or ‘It’s a no-brainer that we should support taking action on climate change.’”
Another positive sign for members of the campaign: In a local high school’s mock election, both of the referendum questions passed with overwhelming support.
Despite success at the local level, resolution or legislation calling for a carbon fee and dividend has yet to reach Congress — and, at least in the current session, seems unlikely to pass a staunchly partisan House and Senate.
There are some signs that the winds could be changing, however. A poll released in mid-September by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC)and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that more than half of those surveyed would be willing to pay a small fee to fight climate change.
Businesses have long supported the idea of a market-based solution to fight climate change, arguing that a price on carbon will make it easier to create long-term business plans that take climate change, and environmental regulations, into account. Last year, before the Paris climate agreement, six oil and gas companies — including Shell, BP, Total, Statoil, Eni, and the BG Group — wrote a letter to the U.N. asking that a price on carbon be included in any deal.
But in order to prove to Congress that communities — and constituents — support a carbon fee and dividend scheme, Citizen Climate Lobby needs local leaders, communities, and voters to make their preferences clear.
“Getting the vote accomplished, getting the official elected or getting the referendum passed, is the start of the journey, not the end.”
“We’ve said all along that there are many Republicans in Congress that would like to present a market based solution to climate change, but the problem is that they are fearing repercussions, maybe in a primary or something,” Steve Valk, communications director for Citizen’s Climate Lobby, told ThinkProgress. “The more endorsements they can get from governmental bodies and community leaders back in their district, the safer it becomes for them to step up and take action.”
Even if the Middleton referendum passes, Hovey says it will still be up to the city’s voters — and city officials — to ensure the momentum from the election translates into real climate action citywide.
“As with any political process, getting the vote accomplished, getting the official elected or getting the referendum passed, is the start of the journey, not the end,” he said. “Then we follow through, to encourage everyone else to also follow through on that commitment and vision.”