Bill Gates gives $1 million to carbon measure

SEATTLE — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has given $1 million to a November ballot measure in Washington state that would charge a fee on carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Gates wrote in a blog post recently that he would contribute to the Yes on 1631 campaign. Updated finance records show he donated $1 million.

Previously the Public Disclosure Commission records had shown that Bill Gates had given $500,000 and his wife Melinda Gates had donated $500,000in support of the initiative.

The measure has raised a total of $11 million.

I-1631 would charge large polluters an escalating fee on fossil-fuel emissions starting at $15 per metric ton. It would be the first direct carbon fee of its kind in the U.S.

Opponents including top oil companies have raised nearly $22 million to defeat it. They say it would hike gas and electricity.

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