Oil companies fund initiative to rollback CA clean air/energy laws

[catgirl]

Huffington Post:

Proposition 23, the so-called "California Jobs Initiative" threatening to suspend some of California's unprecedented clean air and renewable energy legislation, is raking in millions of dollars from Texas oil companies and special interest groups in the Midwest that stand to profit from rolled-back environmental regulation.

The initiative, which is to be voted on in California's upcoming November elections, aims to suspend clean air and energy laws under the "Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006" until California's unemployment rate falls below 5.5 percent for a full year. But this might take a while, considering that the state's recession-induced unemployment rate currently hovers around 12.3 percent.

While the proposition claims to be about creating jobs in California, its biggest financial backers are Texas oil companies, including Valero and Tesoro Corporations, who have donated $4 million and $525,000, respectively, to the initiative.

-snip-

The group did not respond to calls for comment, but questioned by the Los Angeles Times recently, foundation president John Elliot refused to identify the group's donors by name, citing the anonymity granted to donors of tax-exempt foundations under section 501(c) 4 of federal tax law. He did, however, mention the effect that environmental regulations have on Missouri's lucrative coal industry. "Anything to do with energy affects Missouri, No. 1 because we rely heavily on coal," Elliot said.

Must read entire article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/antienvironment-californi_n_687719.html

[catgirl]

1. Anybody?

I guess this isn't as important than the memes of the day- mosques, Gibbs...