Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign (where I, Robert Cruickshank, work as Public Policy Director) has a confession to make.
He's a recovering oil company executive.
When he was 24, Occidental Petroleum offered him a job as chief of staff to the CEO, and later made him the youngest vice president in company history. Rick later left Oxy because he felt they were not being responsible to their shareholders, and today devotes his time to the Courage Campaign as an unpaid Chair, holding corporations and politicians accountable to the progressive values most Californians share.
Why does this matter? Because Occidental is joining other oil companies on this Earth Day to attack California's efforts to address global warming.
(Note: Photos taken by the Courage Campaign are of protests that happened this morning at a Valero station in Oakland. Other protests are happening across California today, organized by the Courage Campaign, CREDO Action, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Environmental Defense Fund, Environment California, Green LA, NRDC, Sierra Club and dozens more environmental groups and individuals)
In the last few weeks, the Courage Campaign and CREDO Action have been hitting one of these oil companies backing the repeal of AB 32, California's Global Warming Solutions Act, with our Boycott Valero campaign, as well as the No on Valero effort, they appear to have called for reinforcements.
As noted in the LA Times story on our Boycott Valero campaign, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum is now part of the coalition trying to undermine AB 32, having donated $300,000 last week to the repeal effort. Oxy was joined by a Missouri think tank, the Adam Smith Foundation, which gave $498,000 to the repeal last week despite having just $30,000 in annual revenues the last two years.
The Courage Campaign has already been fighting Valero and Tesoro, the original oil company backers of the anti-AB 32 initiative. The entry of Oxy and the Adam Smith Foundation (and whoever their real backers are) into the fight shows that our Boycott Valero action is having a powerful impact. Now, on the eve of Earth Day, is precisely the moment to step up our efforts and show these oil companies we won't let them destroy California's environment or our economic future.
That's why the Courage Campaign is launching a fundraising drive to help us build out our campaign to defend AB 32 from the oil companies. We've sunk a lot of time and energy into this campaign in the last 3 weeks, and it's becoming clear that we need additional resources to sustain our efforts in the face of the oil company onslaught. Can you donate $25 - or even $5 - to help us keep up the pressure?
This is where Rick's confession comes in.
He told the hundreds of thousands of Courage Campaign members in California about his past in order to rally support for organizing against Oxy's participation in the anti-AB 32 effort:
After the first "oil shocks" of the 1970s, I remember being heartened that Oxy was focusing on finding alternatives to oil. Eventually, however, oil became so cheap Oxy stopped that research.
So when I saw that Oxy was joining Valero to kill AB 32, I was disappointed but not really surprised. While the market now craves the green energy alternatives being fueled by AB 32, Oxy and its executives are prioritizing their obscene profits -- and dirty energy -- over our prosperity and environment....
This is David vs. Goliath. That's why it will take meaningful action this Earth Day to stop Oxy and Valero from killing AB 32.
Rick went on to link the attack on AB 32 to broader concerns:
AB 32 isn't just about our environment. It's about fueling the fastest growing segment of our economy and making America less dependent on oil from countries that shelter terrorists. Facts are stubborn things. And the fact is that the only people who will benefit from rolling back AB 32 are the big oil companies, and the unstable regimes they subsidize.
Occidental, Valero, Tesoro, and the other backers of the initiative clearly believe that California's economy and environmental laws should give way to their relentless desire for unlimited profit. Yet oil companies are part of the past, represent a failed 20th century economic model that California has to shed if we are to rebuild prosperity in the 21st century.
AB 32 helps spur a green economy and clean energy jobs by incentivizing more efficient operations of oil companies. It requires California to reduce its carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. It doesn't shut down Oxy, Valero, or Tesoro. It just means they have to make some investments in reducing their carbon emissions. That's not so onerous.
Unfortunately, these folks have spent nearly $2 million to get the anti-AB 32 initiative on the ballot. We can't let them overwhelm grassroots progressive response. Please help us sustain and expand our campaign to stop the oil companies from destroying California's future.
Also, be sure to follow the Courage Campaign and CREDO Action Boycott Valero efforts on Twitter @BoycottValero and on Facebook.
