Valero CEO Bill Klesse, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and the other right-wingers and oil companies trying to destroy California’s economy and environmental future by “suspending” AB 32 indefinitely. They’ve gone around peddling debunked studies claiming AB 32 would hurt jobs (actually, it helps create new, green jobs that are harder to offshore).

And yet for all their efforts, they haven’t been able to change the fact that large majorities of Californians support the global warming law and its methods, as the Field Poll found:

In 2006 California passed a new law that requires the state to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming by about 17 percent over the next ten years. Generally speaking, do you favor or oppose this new law?

Favor: 58%

Oppose: 38%

One way to achieve this goal is to charge a fee to those companies that release greenhouse gases over their permitted level. The state would then return most of the money collected from this fee back to all state residents either directly or through a reduction in taxes. Generally speaking, do you favor or oppose this proposal?

Favor: 64%

Oppose: 31%

Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree strongly with the following statement: “I believe California can reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and expand jobs and economic prosperity at the same time.”

Agree: 69%

Disagree: 29%

I’d have liked Next10/Field to ask about using money generated from cap-and-trade fees to fund things like high speed rail, local mass transit operations, and solar panels, but this is still a pretty solid sign that the public is all in favor of the carbon reduction rules AB 32 set up.

In that latter question, “agree” was at 74% in 2008 and 83% in 2007, but 69% is still an enormous amount of support for creating jobs through green technology. There’s no way the right-wingers can spin that as anything but a huge rejection of their attack on California’s green jobs and global warming action.

Of course, they’ll try. That’s why Courage Campaign and CREDO are committed to Boycott Valero. Valero CEO Bill Klesse has responded to at least one Courage Campaign member so far – send him a message yourself and remind him that Californians don’t want a Texas oil company telling them what to do.

Plus, it’s good to see statewide Democratic candidates like Kamala Harris stand up for AB 32 as well.

Note: I’m the Public Policy Director at the Courage Campaign