California scheming: Texas oil companies fund initiative to repeal California’s landmark climate law

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from Grist:



California scheming
Oil companies fund initiative to repeal California’s landmark climate law

by Jonathan Hiskes
20 May 2010 1:00 AM


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. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-20-oil-companies-fund-initiative-to-repeal-californias-AB32/