California voters will decide on Proposition 23 in November, after canvassers backed by Texas oil companies Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot. Prop. 23 would repeal the Global Warming Solutions Act, California’s forward-thinking global warming law, severely damaging the state’s economy over the next decade. Repeal would also stifle innovation in the nation’s clean energy technology center and damage our country’s credibility on climate change internationally. Prop. 23 is short-sighted and cynical, and Californians should reject it.
In the words of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, "This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California's fastest-growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy and decimate our environmental progress for the benefit of these oil companies' profit margins."
The initiative’s backers, guessing that outright repeal would be unpopular, used language that would suspend the Global Warming Solutions Act until unemployment in California falls below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters. Then the campaign for Prop. 23 deceptively framed the initiative as a jobs creation measure.
Prop. 23 effectively repeals the Global Warming Solutions Act, since unemployment has been below 5.5 percent only three times since 1970. The California Legislative Analyst’s Office also dismissed the argument that the Global Warming Solutions Act has caused job losses. Repeal of the act will lead to 33 percent more expensive electricity by the end of the decade, which would cost the state about $80 billion in gross product and eliminate half a million jobs.
California is the engine of the nation’s clean energy economy, where 60 percent of North American venture capital for clean energy was invested in 2009. The Global Warming Solutions Act has demonstrated the economic benefits of a price on carbon emissions, and it is a model for national action on global warming. By upholding the act Californians will send a message to Congress that the public is ready to address climate change.