Press Release
October 14, 2010

Contact: Kate Geller, (202) 454-4573 or [email protected]

League of Conservation Voters, California LCV Name Proposition 23 to the 2010 Dirty Dozen

Addition Marks the First Ballot Measure to Be Targeted for Defeat by LCV’s Trademark Hit-List

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, and the California League of Conservation Voters, announced the unprecedented addition of ballot measure Proposition 23 to the 2010 Dirty Dozen list. For the first time, LCV named the oil industry-funded ballot measure to its trademark Dirty Dozen program that targets candidates for Congress based on its attempted threat to California’s landmark air pollution standards and leading clean energy industry. LCV and its sister organization LCV Education Fund have contributed $1.2 million so far to defeat this dirty energy measure.

“With corporate polluters having successfully blocked comprehensive energy and climate legislation in the U.S. Senate, it is more important than ever that we beat back this deceptive effort funded by Texas oil companies to kill California’s clean energy economy,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “If Big Oil and Dirty Coal successfully repeal California’s clean energy law, there’s no doubt that these dirty energy interests will ramp up their efforts to stifle new energy policies in Congress and in other states – and that’s why LCV is working with California LCV to mobilize our members in California and around the country.”

The primary funders of Prop. 23 are Texas oil companies Valero and Tesoro whose California oil refineries are among the top ten polluters in the state. Prop. 23 would let these Texas oil companies and other polluters off the hook – drastically increasing air pollution and public health risks. Each year, California’s air pollution crisis contributes to thousands of premature deaths, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, and thousands of trips to the hospital for California families. [1]

“The Texas oil tycoons and their dirty coal buddies are spending millions to sell this cynical scam,” said Warner Chabot, CEO of the CA League of Conservation Voters. ”They don’t care about our clean air standards or the billions being invested in clean technology jobs. Their real goal is to keep us addicted to their oil. Prop 23 deserves the Dirty Dozen label and it deserves to be dumped in the trash can of history.”

Prop. 23 would kill clean technology jobs, innovation and billions of dollars of investment in California. Since 2005, California clean energy jobs have grown ten times faster than the statewide average, with 500,000 employees currently working in the state’s leading clean energy industries.[2] California’s clean technology sector received $9 billion cumulative venture capital investment from 2005-09, including $2.1 billion in 2009 alone. [3]

By keeping consumers dependent on fossil fuels, Prop. 23 would also increase household electricity costs in California by 33%. These added costs would reduce economic output in California by more than $80 billion and cost over a half million jobs by 2020. [4]

LCV and CLCV are working to defeat this dirty energy proposition through CLCV’s No on 23 ballot measure committee.

The addition of Prop. 23 makes this cycle’s Dirty Dozen a baker’s dozen. Senate candidates Carly Fiorina (R-CA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sharron Angle (R-NV), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Ken Buck (R-CO) and Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) and House candidates Michelle Bachmann (R- MN), Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Steve Pearce (R-NM) are also on the 2010 Dirty Dozen list. Former Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA) was the first candidate to be defeated of the 2010 Dirty Dozen. Since 1996, more than 60 percent of the Dirty Dozen have been defeated. Learn more at http://www.lcv.org/dirtydozen.


Californians for Clean Energy and Good Jobs, No on 23, a project of the California League of Conservation Voters. Major funding by the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and the League of Conservation Voters.

[1] California Air Resources Board (CARB), December 2008, AB 32 Scoping Plan

[2] Employment Development Department – Labor Market Information Division, California’s Green Economy, April, 2010; “California Green Innovation Index” Collaborative Economics and Next 10, 2009.

[3] http://cleantech.com

[4] David Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley, “Energy Prices and California’s Economic Security,” Next 10, Oct. 2009.

California Environmental Voters (formerly the California League of Conservation Voters) believes the climate crisis is here and this moment requires transformative change. California has the policy solutions to stop climate change but lacks the political will to do it at the rate and scale that’s necessary. EnviroVoters exists to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. We organize voters, elect and train candidates, and hold lawmakers accountable for bold policy change. We won’t stop until we have resilient, healthy, thriving communities, and a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all. Join us at www.envirovoters.org and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. See more press releases.

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