Oil Companies Eclipse $3 Million Mark in Attempt to Kill AB 32

June 15, 2010 @ 6:31 PM

Texas-based Valero Energy (VLO) has dumped another $300,000 into its campaign to repeal California's clean energy and clean air standards, according to a report from the California Secretary of State released today.

That contribution puts the total spending for the ballot measure, which would effectively repeal AB 32, the state's landmark climate change law, at $3,081,101.

"These Texas oil companies are well on their way to shattering records for spending to evade California's clean energy and clean air laws," said Steven Maviglio of Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs. "California voters will be smart enough to see through this deceptive campaign for what it is: a special-interest bailout for oil companies that don't want to invest in pollution control equipment."

According to the Secretary of State's report, oil companies have raised $2,390,000 for the campaign -- 78 percent of the total. Valero alone spent $1,050,000 for the effort, representing 34 percent of the total. Another Texas-based oil refiner, Tesoro, has contributed $525,000, which amounts to 17 percent of the total. The two share the same Sacramento lobbying firm that is coordinating the effort.

These figures do not include the mysterious $498,000 contribution from the Missouri-based Adam Smith Foundation. The proponents of the measure have refused to identify who made the donation to that foundation, which has strong links to fossil fuel interests in the Midwest.

Valero and Tesoro were recently named the #12 and #32 polluters in the nation in the “Toxic 100 Air Polluters” report (http://www.peri.umass.edu/toxic100) recently issued by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Political Economy Research Institute (PERI).

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