In August, the controversial 20-cent fee on plastic and paper grocery bags will be up for a vote. The city council passed the fee, in an effort to encourage the use of reusable grocery bags, last year; the legislation included funding to give every Seattle citizen one or more free reusable grocery bags.

The anti-fee campaign—called, deceptively, the "Coalition to Stop the Bag Tax"—is being funded exclusively by two groups: the American Chemistry Council, a plastic-industry lobbying group, which has already spent more than $238,000 on the referendum to overturn the fee, and Dallas-based 7-11 Stores, which kicked in $10,000. The pro-fee campaign, in contrast, has raised just over $3,000, most of it in in-kind contributions from environmental groups and private citizens.

In related news, Madison Market on Capitol Hill just announced it will stop giving out free disposable bags. Instead, the natural-foods co-op will charge customers ten cents for each disposable bag they use (or give them one of the used disposable bags donated by customers), with the proceeds to go toward sustainability efforts.

Find out more about why disposable bags are bad for the environment here; donate to the Seattle Green Bag campaign here.