Why did Texas Oil Companies try to Kill Californias Clean Energy and Climate Law?
Because of California’s innovative, forward thinking clean energy standards, the state has been a hotbed of investment and job creation in the clean tech, renewable energy, and energy efficiency industries. The oil companies who bankrolled Prop 23 do not want to be required to reduce their emissions, and they do not want to compete with California’s clean energy and clean technology industries. Which Oil Companies funded Prop 23? Valero and Tesoro are the two Texas oil companies that contributed the overwhelming majority of the funds for the dirty energy initiative (more than $4.5 million). Each oil firm owns refineries in California. According to the California Air Resources Board, Valero’s Benicia refinery is California’s eighth largest source global warming pollution. A refinery owned by Tesoro is the state’s tenth largest emitter of global warming pollution. How was the Dirty Energy Proposition Deceptive? The oil companies claimed Prop. 23 would only “suspend” AB 32’s air pollution
