News Release

Why Initiative to Gut Calif. Environmental Law Failed

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California’s Proposition 23 sought to suspend a 2006 law (AB 32) intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

DAVID CHENG
Available for a limited number of interviews, Cheng is a senior manager at the Cleantech Group, a research and advisory company focused on clean tech innovation. He is also a member of E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), a national community of individual business leaders who advocate for good environmental policy while building economic prosperity.

He said today: “California voters overwhelmingly looked ahead towards a clean energy future by voting down Prop 23. As a good barometer, I look to the smartest people in the room and learn from them. In this case, the ‘No on 23’ campaign recruited a large tent of Republicans and Democrats, capitalists and environmentalists to this cause. I look forward to the wave of innovation and jobs that will stem from California’s clean energy policies, most notably AB 32.”

LARRY FAHN
Fahn is president of As You Sow and member of the board and past president of the Sierra Club. He said today: “California voters saw through the special interest deception and showed their determination that California remain a leader in the transformation to a clean energy future.” Fahn says he realized that the “No” side would likely prevail when the Palm Springs Desert Sun became the 50th California newspaper to publish a “No on 23” editorial, joining the L.A. Times, San Diego Union Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and most of the other major papers in the state.

ABEL HAPTEGEORGIS
Haptegeorgis is with the Ella Baker Center, which released a statement: “Early polling showed that many of California’s ethnic minority communities were more supportive of Prop. 23 than white voters, but polls released in late October showed a marked shift against the initiative. … Much credit may belong to a massive grassroots effort to educate voters of color … through door-knocking, phone calls, direct mail, radio ads and ethnic media outreach. The campaign was mounted by Communities United Against the Dirty Energy Proposition, a coalition of over 130 organizations representing low-income communities and people of color in California.”

GABE ELSNER
Elsner is campaign director of Power Vote California. He said today: “The California Student Sustainability Coalition’s Power Vote Campaign united thousands of young Californians behind a creative grassroots campaign that exposed Big Oil’s dirty ploy, and mobilized thousands of voters to defeat it. The campaign partnered with student networks across the state to turn out the youth vote, worked with a community coalition to launch the Clean Energy Tour, a music tour merging arts and activism, and directly confronted oil interests bank-rolling the initiative, like the Koch brothers.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167