Some big news has been breaking on the anti-AB 32 front in recent days. After Valero got hit by the combined efforts of the Courage Campaign and CREDO Action with our Boycott Valero campaign (note: I work as Public Policy Director for the Courage Campaign), as well as the No on Valero effort, they appear to have called for reinforcements.
As noted in the LA Times story on our Boycott Valero campaign, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum is now part of the coalition trying to undermine AB 32, having donated $300,000 last week to the repeal effort. Oxy was joined by a Missouri think tank, the Adam Smith Foundation, which gave $498,000 to the repeal last week despite having just $30,000 in annual revenues the last two years.
The Courage Campaign has already been fighting Valero and Tesoro, the original oil company backers of the anti-AB 32 initiative. The entry of Oxy and the Adam Smith Foundation (and whoever their real backers are) into the fight shows that our Boycott Valero action is having a powerful impact. Now, on the eve of Earth Day, is precisely the moment to step up our efforts and show these oil companies we won’t let them destroy California’s environment or our economic future.
That’s why the Courage Campaign is launching a fundraising drive to help us build out our campaign to defend AB 32 from the oil companies. We’ve sunk a lot of time and energy into this campaign in the last 3 weeks, and it’s becoming clear that we need additional resources to sustain our efforts in the face of the oil company onslaught. Can you donate $25 or more to help us keep up the pressure?
Launching the fundraiser is Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign, who knows a little something about Occidental. He was an executive there in the 1980s, working as chief of staff to the CEO and eventually becoming the youngest vice-president in the history of the company. He later left Oxy because he felt they were not being responsible to their shareholders, and today devotes his time to the Courage Campaign as an unpaid Chair, holding corporations and politicians accountable to the progressive values most Californians share.
Jacobs slammed Oxy’s participation in the anti-AB 32 effort, in an email to Courage Campaign members across California:
After the first “oil shocks” of the 1970s, I remember being heartened that Oxy was focusing on finding alternatives to oil. Eventually, however, oil became so cheap Oxy stopped that research.
So when I saw that Oxy was joining Valero to kill AB 32, I was disappointed but not really surprised. While the market now craves the green energy alternatives being fueled by AB 32, Oxy and its executives are prioritizing their obscene profits — and dirty energy — over our prosperity and environment….
This is David vs. Goliath. That’s why it will take meaningful action this Earth Day to stop Oxy and Valero from killing AB 32.
Occidental, Valero, Tesoro, and the other backers of the initiative clearly believe that California’s economy and environmental laws should give way to their relentless desire for unlimited profit. Yet oil companies are part of the past, represent a failed 20th century economic model that California has to shed if we are to rebuild prosperity in the 21st century.
AB 32 helps spur a green economy and clean energy jobs by incentivizing more efficient operations of oil companies. It doesn’t shut down Oxy, Valero, or Tesoro. It just means they have to make some investments in reducing their carbon emissions. That’s not so onerous.
Unfortunately, these folks have spent nearly $2 million to get the anti-AB 32 initiative on the ballot. We can’t let them overwhelm grassroots progressive response. Please help us sustain and expand our campaign to stop the oil companies from destroying California’s future.
Below is the full email Rick Jacobs sent to Courage Campaign members this morning.
Dear Robert —
I have a confession to make: I’m a recovering oil company executive.
When I was 24, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum offered me the job of a lifetime. I became his chief of staff and eventually the youngest vice president in the history of the company.
One of the reasons I left Occidental — or “Oxy,” as a lot of folks call them — 20 years ago was because they were not being responsible to their shareholders or community. Today, I devote my time to the Courage Campaign as an unpaid Chair, holding corporations and politicians accountable to the progressive values most Californians share.
That’s why the news that the Los Angeles Times is reporting is so personal: Oxy just donated $300,000 to help kill AB 32 — California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act. They want to pass a dirty energy proposition that would increase pollution in California and destroy America’s opportunity to build a green jobs economy.
With Valero Oil’s signature-gathering campaign stalled and nearly 30,000 Courage Campaign and CREDO Action members pledging to boycott Valero, Oxy is riding to their rescue. But we can stop them — maybe even before they can get this initiative on the ballot.
With Earth Day fast approaching, we need to turbo-charge our campaign to defeat Valero and Oxy. If 48 people in your county contribute $25 or more, we can hit the ground running. The more we raise, the more we can do. DEADLINE: Earth Day, April 22:
http://www.couragecampaign.org…
After the first “oil shocks” of the 1970s, I remember being heartened that Oxy was focusing on finding alternatives to oil. Eventually, however, oil became so cheap Oxy stopped that research.
So when I saw that Oxy was joining Valero to kill AB 32, I was disappointed but not really surprised. While the market now craves the green energy alternatives being fueled by AB 32, Oxy and its executives are prioritizing their obscene profits — and dirty energy — over our prosperity and environment.
I take no money for my work at Courage. That’s just one reason why we can rely on small-dollar donations to make our campaigns possible. But relying on small-dollar donations is also why we don’t have billions of dollars like Oxy and Valero.
This is David vs. Goliath. That’s why it will take meaningful action this Earth Day to stop Oxy and Valero from killing AB 32. We just need 48 people from your county to contribute $25 or more and build our campaign from the ground up. Join us today:
http://www.couragecampaign.org…
Thanks to you, we’re going to show oil companies like Oxy and Valero that we won’t let them mess with California.
Rick Jacobs
Chair, Courage Campaign