In a victory not just for residents of El Paso but also taxpayers across the country who are likely to be faced with similar propositions, a measure to adopt a radical climate charter that would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars and the loss of thousands of jobs has been defeated.  On May 6, 2023, El Paso voters agreed with Citizens Against Government Waste that Proposition K was a terrible idea and resoundingly rejected it by an 82 to 18 percent margin. 

Billed as an effort to “use all available resources…to reduce the City’s contribution to climate change; … invest in an environmentally sustainable future,” and “advance the cause of climate justice,” Proposition K was aimed at forcing the city of El Paso to completely cut off any connection to the fossil fuel industry.  The proposal contained provisions that would have required the city to implement 100 percent renewable energy use by 2045 and would have required every proposal considered by the city council to include a “climate impact statement.”  Such provisions would have cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure changes and lost efficiency created by an increased bureaucracy.  

Worst of all, Proposition K called upon the city council to explore the purchase of El Paso Electric, a private electric company that had expressed no interest in being acquired by the city.  In addition to purchasing El Paso Electric, the city would also have been required to completely retrofit the energy providers system and infrastructure to remove any dependence on fossil fuels using taxpayer funds.

If adopted, Proposition K would have cost the city an estimated 130,000 jobs, $7.9 billion earnings, and a total loss of $28.2 billion in economic impact by 2030.  The same study found that, if adopted, the proposal would also have shrunk the El Paso economy by 40.8 percent.

Thankfully the people of El Paso soundly defeated this radical  proposal.  Their overwhelming vote showed that they are standing for free markets and against the financing of a wasteful climate plan that would have devastated the local economy.