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Deep Economy
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California Ballot Measures: A Step Backwards On Energy Reform
Posted Jun 4, 2010 by Asher Miller
[Excerpt] For decades now, California has led the country in environmental protection, passing legislation that's often set the benchmark for national policy. But this, like all tides, can flow in two directions. A pair of ballot measures -- Prop 16 and The California Jobs Initiative -- could set California back immeasurably, and by extension the entire country, at a time when we can least afford it.
Prop 16
Proposition 16 is a devious attempt by northern California public utility Pacific Gas & Electric to block local communities from determining from where their electricity comes. I've got to give them credit: PG&E has put together a shrewd strategy that seems likely to succeed. They've titled the measure "The Taxpayers Right to Vote Act" and placed it on an off-season ballot that's certain to get very low turnout. Their ads, like the one below, are brilliant (if you can ignore the profound cynicism behind them) -- claiming that it's all about making sure that taxpayers have a right to vote and determine how their money is spent.
Never mind the fact that the ballot measure is intended to do the exact opposite of what it claims or that there's something fundamentally ironic about asking a simple majority in a low-turnout election to force local communities to get approval of two-thirds of voters in order to take their energy future into their own hands. If this election turns out anything like the June 2006 primary (the last non-presidential election), a mere 10 percent of eligible voters will determine the energy future of the entire state.
For these reasons and many others, a long list of governments, not-for-profits, civic organizations, and newspapers have come out in opposition to Prop 16. Clearly the stakes are high for PG&E, and so the utility is is spending $44 million on the campaign, while the opposition has only managed to raise less than one-tenth of one percent that amount -- forcing them to get creative with the use of social media...
Originally published June 3, 2010 at the Huffington Post
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