SolarTech, an Initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group: NO ON PROP 23

By now you, your readership, or your constituents have no doubt heard of the deceptive efforts by two Texas oil companies spending millions to push Prop. 23, a misguided ballot proposition that would kill California clean energy and air pollution reduction standards.
The choice is simple: Californians must choose a path forward. NO on 23 means we refuse to let out of State oil companies try to send California, our economy, and a vibrant clean-tech economy backwards. We will NOT go backwards.

This issue has its roots in California’s clean air law (AB32) passed in 2006 to hold polluters accountable -and requires them to reduce air pollution that threatens human health and contributes to global climate change. This law has launched California to the forefront of the clean technology industry, sparking innovation and clean energy businesses that are creating hundreds of thousands of new California jobs.

Prop 23 is being touted as a "jobs initiative," but the real thrust of the proposition is to suspend AB 32 until unemployment reaches a level of 5.5% for four consecutive quarters, a mark that has been hit only a few times in the last 30 years. As a consequence, Prop 23 is effectively a repeal of the law.

The Texas Oil companies have elected to make this about jobs. We should make it about jobs – Jobs the clean economy is creating by the thousands!

Operating from a position of fear about losing oil profits, fear about a transition to a clean economy, fear about facing the dawning of a new age of energy, the Texas oil companies would rather write checks to preserve the status quo burning oil and gas to pollute the air we breathe instead of finding solutions to the real issues we in the clean economy are taking on – Leading a transition to a clean, sustainable, vibrant world class economy on a massive scale measured in the trillions of dollars.

The Texas oil companies want to continue California's addiction to oil. Prop. 23 would kill competition from California's newly emerging clean energy businesses - wind, solar and other renewable energy and clean technologies that would reduce energy costs and our dependence on fossil fuels. If we roll back our clean energy standards, California would lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investments to other states. Already, over 500,000 employees work in clean technology or green jobs in California. Since 2005, California green jobs have grown 10 times faster than the statewide average.

California's clean technology sector received $9 billion cumulative venture capital investment from 2005- 09, including $2.1 billion in investment capital in 2009 - more than five times the investment in our nearest competitor, Massachusetts.4 There are more than 12,000 clean tech companies in California.5

The most visible testament to this burgeoning economy is the California Solar Initiative. In 2010 alone, the California Solar Initiative has delivered 118.4 million watts of clean solar electricity, catalyzing the economy with over $800MM of value across the entire state just 5 years after inception. AB32 policy certainty has allowed the industry to scale, driving down costs aggressively, such that the solar industry is poised to leap across the chasm from policy driven to a vibrant consumer driven market inside of 24 months for the majority of consumer projects. Our organization represents over 120 companies, reaching 93% of the California solar market and 75% of the US market, with upwards of $5 billion in annual revenue globally growing 20% of more annually, fueling job creation in California for Californians.

All this would be undone if Prop 23 passes. Prop. 23 would kill clean technology jobs, innovation and billions of dollars of investment in California.

Prop 23 has been put on the ballot by two Texas-based oil companies, Valero and Tesoro, and has attracted significant contributions from other out-of-state special interests. To date, 89% of the funding for this proposition has come from beyond California's borders and 98% from fossil fuel interests. Instead of attempting to make California policy at the ballot box, that money would be better spent adapting their businesses to low-carbon standards and creating more jobs in the process.

Meanwhile, Prop 23 is opposed by a broad and diverse coalition including the Silicon Valley Leadership Group; American Lung Association in California; AARP; the Sierra Club; NAACP; the California Nurses Association; Small Business California; and dozens of other groups. Both Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Barbara Boxer, as well as Gov. Schwarzenegger, oppose Prop 23. So does the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, and nearly all of the state's major newspapers.

They believe, as I do, that Prop 23 is a step backwards. It has nothing to do with progress. Prop 23 represents the past.

Let’s put Prop 23 where it belongs - in the past, in our rearview mirrors.

Real leadership requires courage, not fear. We represent the future.

Vote NO on 23, join us and we’ll show Californians the way. We’re already doing it.

Thank you.

Doug Payne
Co-Founder, Executive Director
SolarTech Consortium