The fight to protect California’s environment entered a new round yesterday when Secretary of State Deborah Bowen announced that the backers of the initiative to repeal our landmark law to combat global warming, AB 32, had qualified their dirty energy proposition for the November ballot.  And we, along with a big coalition are ready to fight and defeat their sneaky initiative.  Today in San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom and local environmental leaders lambasted this deceptive initiative that would roll back AB 32 which has put California on the cutting edge of the 21 Century’s emerging green economy, clean tech research, and the development of carbon-neutral fuel sources.

The event was held at Pier 7 on the city’s embarcadero, overlooking the bay that is the largest and most biologically productive estuary on the West Coast. It was here that the tanker Costco Buscan ran aground in 2007, spilling more than 53,000 gallons of heavy bunker oil, killing wildlife and providing a harbinger of the great environmental tragedy now unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico where the spill gushes the equivalent of the Costco Buscan spill every four hours.

That’s what our addiction to oil leads to.  Now Texas oil companies are asking California voters to for yet another bailout, freeze state clean energy and climate laws and roll back clean air standards.

The oil companies have chosen California as their battleground to crush the progress the State’s made in moving away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy.  Californians will be their Waterloo by defeating their invidious proposition.  They are a formidable foe, already spending more than $3 million to promote their measure.   Eighty percent of the campaign’s money has come from oil companies, with 78 percent contributed by out-of-state donors.

But we can and we must defeat them.  AB 32 sets a new global standard for the next economy – a sustainable economy, one that will ensure family prosperity, national security and environmental stability.  AB 32 already has created thousands of clean energy jobs in California; the sustainable energy sector is growing 10 times faster than any other segment of our economy.

We can’t let Texas oil destroy California’s future simply for the purpose of stuffing more cash into their already bulging coffers.   Please:  join our big and growing team of citizens to fight the fossil fuel plutocrats who are trying to take us back to the dirty days.  Tell your friends, share your time and creativity.  Support our efforts at  http://www.stopdirtyenergyprop…  Stay tuned for lots more on this topic – it’s going to be a long hot summer.