The Student News Site of Sacramento City College

The Express

The Student News Site of Sacramento City College

The Express

The Student News Site of Sacramento City College

The Express

Editorial: No on Prop 23, save clean air

Illustration by ||David Kitchell|| [email protected]

In 2006, Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, was passed by the state Legislature and later signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to simply reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in our state to match levels in 1990 by the year 2020.

Now with the general election in November closer than ever, Proposition 23, backed by big Texas oil companies like Valero Energy Corporation and Tesoro Corporation, not only threatens AB32, but also more than 500,000 green jobs and clean air standards.

Proponents of Prop. 23, like Valero who owns Beacon, and Tesoro who owns retail brand name Shell, have donated over
$5 million to the proposition between the two of them. But the list of corporations specializing in petroleum-based support
doesn’t end there. More than 12 major oil corporations have thrown money at this bill, arguing that the proposition would
put AB32 on hold, while they decrease California’s unemployment rate by creating new jobs. False.

According to “California’s Green Innovation Index” of 2009, clean air jobs have increased by 45 percent between
1995 and 2008. It also explains that California has more than 12,000 clean energy companies, providing more than 500,000
jobs. Therefore, if Proposition 23 should pass, it would potentially slow down the progress of the green industry as they
compete to undo what pollution big Texas oil spews into the air.
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The California unemployment rate, according to the Los Angeles Times, reached 12.5 percent this past January with some
counties reaching up to 20 percent. But the unemployment rate hasn’t been below the 5.5 percent goal proposed by supporters of Proposition 23 since 2007. To add to this matter, according to the California Employment Development Department, the ideal 5.5 percent unemployment goal has only occurred four times in the past 34 years.

This means achieving the low unemployment rate proposed is rare; much like seeing a unicorn. But just how dirty are the two main supporters of Proposition 23? A study from the University of Massachusetts states that Tesoro ranks No. 22 for “Top Corporate Polluters in the United States” with 3.74 million pounds of toxic air released and 2 million pounds of sulfuric acid emitted annually. And worst of all, Tesoro is responsible for at least four toxic waste sites according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Greenhouse gas emissions include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide,not to mention other harmful gases with enormous names like sulfur hexafluo ride, which is the most potent in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
Could you imagine living in the City College parking structure for a week? Breathing in all the fumes of students starting their vehicles is enough to make one sick, and that’s why there are signs drilled into the walls stating there are cancer causing
fumes present.

To put it simply, the Express urges a no vote on Prop. 23 because it threatens a variety of human neces-sities from the clean air we breathe to the foods we consume. According to a recent study by UC Davis professor of
plant sciences Arnold Bloom, greenhouse gas emissions can dramatically decrease the nutritional content of fruits and vegetables in both vitamin and caloric value. The increase of carbon dioxide decreases photosynthesis, stunts
plant growth and greatly effects food quality.

In the end, greenhouse gases are bad news. Vote no to save green jobs, keep our air toxin-free, and guarantee our vegetables aren’t compromised. Voting yes on Prop 23 is for the benefit of big Texas oil CEOs with endless financial means and hidden agendas to drill, baby, drill.

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