by Jonathan Hiskes
Texas oil companies are funding an attack on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signature environmental accomplishment, the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act.Gov. Schwarzenegger’s OfficeBig Oil is nothing if
not brazen, so while BP works to protect its tattered reputation in the Gulf,
two Texas oil companies are on the attack in California. Their target is Assembly Bill 32, the most
ambitious cap-and-trade climate plan in the nation, which was signed into law
by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006 and is set to really kick into gear
next year. Their weapon is a ballot initiative that would mothball the plan
until state unemployment drops to below 5.5 percent for four consecutive
quarters (from a current 12.6 percent), which would effectively kill the plan
for the time being.
Last week, a group
turned in 800,000 signatures in support of the initiative, ensuring it a place
on state ballots in November. Texas refinery companies Tesoro and Valerog an attack on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signature and
private donors have poured more than $1 million into the campaign. Clean-air
advocates worry that figure could reach $50 million by year’s end.
The group works under
the name California Jobs Initiative,
which is ironic given the threat it poses to jobs in the state’s growing
cleantech industry. The clean-energy sector has noticed the threat, and it’s partnering with green groups and venture capital firms to build up its own war chest to
defend the climate plan.
Schwarzeneger, for his
part, has stuck to his guns: “We have to do everything we can to fight
back and push back those greedy companies and make sure we protect our
environmental laws,” he
said last week.
Two ways this could
play out:
Worst-case scenario: Defeat. A successful ballot initiative would
be catastrophic, and not just for clean-energy workers in California. The fight
is a symbolic proxy for the national battle over fossil-fuel pollution and
climate legislation, and a victory for polluters in the nation’s most populous state
would embolden them to try to repeal climate plans in other states.
“People see
California as ground zero in this fight,” Ann Nothoff, California advocacy
director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the L.A. Times. “Polluters will do
anything to defeat climate legislation in Washington, D.C., even if it means
using California as a pawn.”
Best-case scenario: A long, expensive distraction. Even if the
measure fails six months from now, it still forces environmental groups to
spend scarce money and attention on defending an existing law when they want to be proactively campaigning for more progress.
In this way it works
the same as concerted attacks on climate science or climate action plans.
Polluters don’t have to win public
arguments over science or the best climate solutions. They just have to
continue attacking, keeping the public confused and the media covering the
“debate.” For them, the best defense is relentless series of attacks.
Clean-energy advocates are stuck playing defense.
The silver lining: Cleantech gets tough. If there’s a bright side
here, it’s that California’s politically inexperienced clean-energy companies
and venture firms may learn to use their considerable funds and intellectual
capital in the political arena. In February, cleantech executives traveled to Washington
for a “fly-in” crash
course on lobbying and media strategy. The attack on California’s climate
plan could hammer home some of the same lessons on the need for businesses to
engage with policy. Now Climatewire
reports that cleantech firms and environmental groups are working to craft
a unified response plan to the oil-company attacks. Both groups may emerge
stronger from that partnership.
Related Links:
Obama admin overhauls MMS, the agency in charge of offshore drilling
Rand Paul’s Copenhagen rant and other election notes
Robert Redford and green groups tell Obama to step up on Gulf oil leak
