This past week has witnessed a new low in California electioneering. More than four years after bipartisan passage of AB 32, California’s landmark climate law that establishes clean energy and air pollution standards, two Texas oil companies have arrived to scuttle it. Valero and Tesoro, oil refiners that worked to kill climate policy in Washington D.C., are funding a ballot measure to indefinitely suspend AB 32.
The measure claims it simply “suspends AB 32,” but, in fact, it would halt the implementation of clean energy and pollution standards until California’s unemployment level drops below 5.5 percent for an entire year – a market condition that has occurred just three times in the last 30 years.
Valero and Tesoro are trying to get one of the most divisive and disingenuous ballot measures in years onto an already clogged November ballot. They have reportedly pledged up to $2 million to buy signatures to qualify the measure.
Not surprisingly, neither company is admitting involvement. With good reason. They know California’s voters would reject polluters–especially out-of-state ones–that are trying to buy their way onto the ballot. And these polluters have the most to lose from the state and the country embracing a clean energy future. In California, the companies operate four refineries that emit nearly 20% of the state’s total reported emissions that contribute to global warming. Nationally, Tesoro and Valero are among the worst polluters in the country.
Their deceptive initiative would kill hundreds of thousands of jobs and chill billions of dollars of investment in California, which is home to America’s largest and growing clean energy economy. According to the non-partisan, independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the suspension of AB 32 could: “delay investments in energy technologies reaping longer-run savings, or dampen additional investments in clean energy technologies or in so-called ‘green jobs’ by private firms, thereby resulting in less economic activity than would otherwise be the case.”
Clean air advocates, business leaders and environmental groups are fighting back. Last week, a coalition called Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs set up a website and Facebook and Twitter accounts to expose this effort and help ensure that public interests, not special interests, triumph in November. We invite you to join the coalition and show your support for a clean energy future and a healthy environment.