| September 7, 2010 |  |
Out-of-State Oil Interests Fund Ballot Measure to Block CA Clean Energy Law
The campaign promoting Proposition 23, a referendum on California’s November ballot that would essentially annul the state’s landmark clean energy law, is being funded primarily by two Texas-based oil companies. The companies, Valero Energy and Tesoro Corporation, two of California’s top polluters, are spending millions of dollars to convince voters to block implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32). Now, additional funding for the campaign comes from a Kansas subsidiary of Koch Industries, owned by the oil magnate billionaire Koch brothers.
“The Koch brothers' outlandish financial investment in support of the Prop 23 campaign should be exposed for its colossal cynicism. These out-of-state billionaires want to degrade the air quality for all Californians while maximizing profits for their own polluting businesses,” says James McCarthy, Chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Board of Directors.
“With their enormous profits from polluting industries the Koch brothers are trying to drown out the voices of scientists on a number of public health issues, including climate change. Scientists must push back against attempts like these to block the will of Americans to heed scientists' warnings and address the threat of climate change,” McCarthy continues.
The California Air Resources Board, the agency mandated to implement the law, is on track to meet the law’s requirement to reduce the state’s global warming pollution to 1990 levels by 2020. The agency is now developing a package of clean energy regulations, such as a renewable energy standard and low carbon fuel standard, to cut emissions by about 12 percent from today’s levels in the next decade.
For all intent and purposes, Proposition 23 would stop these policies in their tracks by requiring the state to suspend it until California’s unemployment rate falls to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters. The state’s unemployment has dropped that low only three times over the past 30 years.
The Proposition 23 campaign is using industry-funded economic studies and other misinformation to try to make a case that AB 32 would hurt the state economy. Those studies, however, do not stand up to scrutiny. One of the campaign’s most highly touted studies, for example, wildly overstates the cost of the clean energy law to small businesses. The study was denounced as “useless” and “unreliable” by the California Legislative Analyst’s office.
On the other hand, more than 100 mainstream economists support the state’s clean energy regulations. In July, the Union of Concerned Scientists organized an open letter signed by 118 economists, including Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow, warning against any delay in implementing the law. “Delaying action now and waiting for the future before initiating accelerated action to reduce global warming gases will be more costly than initiating action now.”
Valero and Tesoro, and now the Koch Bros., are trying to exploit Californians’ insecurity about employment by calling the clean energy law a “job killer” when, in fact, the clean energy sector is one of the few bright spots in our economy. From 1995 to 2008, total California jobs increased only 13 percent, while green jobs expanded 36 percent and green businesses grew by 45 percent. And last year, California led the nation in the number of clean energy job created and the number of clean energy businesses in operation.
Not only will the clean energy law generate new jobs, it will save consumers money. There’s a 30-year track record to prove it. From 1976 to 2006, California’s forward-thinking clean energy policies saved consumers $56 billion on household energy costs. With more energy efficiency and other smart energy policies, including those that promote a transition to clean, renewable energy sources such as the wind and sun, California residents will benefit from even more savings.
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
