This figure from the California EPA shows the state's emissions per person, which have been in decline. Some tech companies in California worry that a proposed bill will inhibit this positive development.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A proposition designed to create jobs in California at the expense of the state greenhouse gas emission goals, has several technology companies pleeding with voters to oppose the legislation, which will go to ballot Tuesday.
The goal of the proposition is to freeze the gradual reduction of emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 (as described in AB 32) until California’s unemployment rate (currently 12.4 percent) falls to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.
On Monday, Larry Irving, vice president of global government affairs at HP (www.hp.com), issued the following statement: “HP strongly opposes Proposition 23, which would impair California’s leadership in reducing greenhouse gases. As a top employer in California and one of America’s greenest companies, HP takes seriously its role as a leader in protecting our environment, and supports the state’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and provide regulatory certainty that fuels innovation.”
Still, supporters of Proposition 23 say that the bill will save more than 1.1 million jobs, $3.7 billion a year in higher gasoline and diesel prices, and local governments from hundreds of millions in additional budget cuts. They also say that energy costs will balloon with electricity rates increasing by up to 60 percent, and natural gas by 56 percent.
The rationale among supporters is that California should suspend its global warming plans until the state economy stabilizes. The return of people to work, thereby, takes precedence over the environment for the time being.
HP, however, is not alone in its defiance. Industry organization the Green Technology Leadership Group (www.greentechleadership.org), whose founding members include Danotek Motion Technologies, Electric Vehicles International, SolFocus, Rentech, Ls9, Inc., and the Carbon Offset Providers Coalition, launched a media campaign in mid-October to oppose Proposition 23. Dedicated to providing policy leadership for the tech sector, the GTLG is opposed to Proposition 23 on the grounds that it would limit innovation into green technology, and prove a major setback for the environmental and economic benefits of a thriving green technology sector.
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