Proposition 23 is a new version of an old story: yet again, special interests are trying to hijack California’s state ballot to enrich themselves at the expense of our communities.
This time it’s two large Texas oil companies pushing a deceptive ballot proposition. Prop. 23 is a direct threat to our health and our jobs, and Asian Pacific Americans are right in the cross hairs.
Valero Energy and Tesoro Corp., the Texas oil giants behind Prop. 23, have already spent nearly $8 million and are expected to spend millions – maybe tens of millions – more. They claim they’re doing this to protect California jobs. Do they think we’re stupid? Do they really expect us to believe that a group of big oil companies (several others have also made contributions) are spending millions of dollars on a California ballot campaign out of the goodness of their hearts?
Prop. 23 will block a landmark clean energy law in California, keeping us addicted to oil and other dirty energy sources. Simply put, that means more pollution and more asthma and other lung diseases. And despite the dishonest claims being made by the oil companies, it won’t save jobs – it will kill them.
Studies have found a clear link between the air pollution caused by dirty energy and higher rates of respiratory illness. That’s why health organizations like the Korean Health, Education, Information and Research Center; the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California; and the California chapters of the American Lung Association and American Academy of Pediatrics oppose Prop. 23.
Asian and Pacific Islanders face particular challenges when it comes to health. Nationally, two thirds of Asian Pacific American children live in areas that fail to meet federal clean-air standards, and it’s even worse in California. And according to a 2009 report from the California Asian Pacific Islander Joint Legislative Caucus, Asians are the only racial group for whom the leading cause of death is cancer, with higher cancer death rates than any other group.
Do we really want to lock in a dirty energy policy that will keep our kids breathing polluted air for decades?
And Prop. 23 will indeed lock us into a polluted, dirty energy future, even though it’s being sold as a mere “pause” in implementation of our state’s clean energy policy. In fact, Prop. 23 sets the bar so high that it would essentially be a permanent repeal.
If the oil companies backing Prop. 23 have proven anything, it’s that they’re willing to distort, mislead, and sometimes flat-out lie. Their whole central claim, that Prop. 23 will save jobs, simply isn’t true.
The clean energy economy is growing faster in California than any other state, mainly thanks to the very same clean energy law Prop. 23 seeks to block, known as the Global Warming Solutions Act or AB 32.
For businesses that want to retrofit homes for energy efficiency, make solar panels or build electric cars, the law has provided assurance that there will be a growing market for their products and services. And they’ve responded, creating over 500,000 new jobs, according to the state Employment Development Department.
Since the law was enacted, clean-tech investment in California has skyrocketed, surpassing all other states combined. This is the only sector of our economy that steadily gained jobs during the recession – and Prop. 23 will throw it away.
Indeed, the proponents of this dirty energy initiative are so shameless that they’ve continued citing a UC Berkeley study as “proof” that AB 32 threatens millions of jobs, even after the authors of the study wrote in the Los Angeles Times that their report “says no such thing.” In fact, the researchers added, our clean energy law “will have a small but positive effect on the state’s jobs.”
The Texas oil companies don’t care about jobs; they just want to protect their profits.
Don’t be fooled by the lies. Vote NO on 23. For more information, see www.CommunitiesAgainstProp23.com/
Ian Kim directs the Green Collar Jobs Campaign at the Ella Baker Center in Oakland.
The California Jobs Initiative (CJI) is an oil corporation farce and fraud. There is no connection, whatsoever, between greenhouse gas emission reduction and the loss of jobs. This notion is an insult to the intelligence of the people of California. In fact, there is job growth in the clean, renewable energy industry. The only jobs created by the oil industry are clean-up jobs after oil spills and deep water, blow-outs and pump-handler jobs. CJI will make fantastic profits for the oil industry, increase air pollution, especially in communities around their refineries, and there will not be lower gas prices. Koch Industries, Valero and Tesoro are super Enrons. Since when did the oil companies start to show any concern for the unemployed and their families and for small businesses?
Good article, but I haven’t been able to verify anything you said in the article. Any sources or hard data points showing California is leading the nation in clean energy jobs? It seems that we are worse off as far as unemployment compared to other states….
I applaud California for the great strides they have made in the clean industry. I have no facts to back this up, but I can’t see how California wouldnt be leading the charge. We spent a good amount of time there and it is light years ahead of the solar industry in Massachusetts — at least right now.
I hope Prop 23 is defeated because the whole country needs California to continues its fight. The trickle down effects of all the good California is doing is reaching other parts of the country.