Investment and business leaders last week warned that passage of California’s Proposition 23 this November would jeopardize a half million cleantech jobs, 12,000 companies and billions of dollars of private investment in California. Moreover, it would signal an end to the state’s global leadership in clean tech as nations in Asia and Europe surge ahead.
In a new report, "Going Backward," issued by the Clean Economy Network (CEN), the business leaders also said Prop 23 would suspend efforts to increase electricity produced from renewable sources, stifle energy efficiency standards for homes & office buildings and prevent cleaner tailpipe emissions.
More than 250 businesses and organizations across the state have signed up to oppose Prop 23. Prop 23’s oil company funders seek to overturn Assembly Bill 32 (AB32), a law passed in 2006 that triggered an explosion of clean tech investment and entrepreneurship by requiring a transition from polluting sources of energy to clean ones. In particular, the state will cut its carbon emissions and utilities will need to provide one-third of their power production from renewable energy by 2020.
"Prop 23 should be viewed for what it is: a mechanism for regulatory and investment uncertainty that only benefits its backers–big out-of-state oil companies Valero and Tesoro–while putting the economic health of the rest of California at risk," said Jeff Anderson, Executive Director of CEN. "Sending jobs and investment overseas is a no-win proposition for all Americans and must be defeated."
According to the report, both private equity and venture capital investors are already feeling skittish with the uncertainty created by Prop 23, fearing that much-needed stable policies and clear market signals for clean energy projects would disappear.
Consumers in California are also put at risk because of Prop 23. It would increase healthcare costs because of continued air pollution as well as raise electricity bills by up to a third over the next decade.
California is a national leader in energy policy. If Prop 23 were to pass, it has the potential to cause a roll back of energy and climate policies in other states and further slow efforts to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation in the U.S. Congress.
The report can be downloaded at the link below.
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