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Bill, Melinda Gates give $1 million to Washington's carbon measure

Bill and Melinda Gates each donated $500,000 to an initiative that would implement a fee on carbon emissions.
Credit: LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images
Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates leaves the Elysee presidential palace, after a meeting with French President on April 16, 2018 in Paris.

SEATTLE — Philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have together donated $1 million to a November ballot measure in Washington state that would charge a fee on carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Gates, who co-founded Microsoft, wrote in a blog post last week that he would contribute to the Yes on 1631 campaign but he didn't reveal how much.

New campaign finance records show that he and his wife have each donated $500,000 in 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.

WATCH: Debating Washington's carbon initiative

Opponents including top oil companies have raised nearly $22 million to defeat it. They say it would hike gas and electricity costs and exempts too many big polluters.

RELATED: Farmers disagree on value of Washington's carbon initiative

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