NO on PROPOSITION 7: Messy Measure Hurts Clean Energy

Prop 7 embodies both the ideals and the fatal flaws of the California initiative process. Well-intentioned yet tragically defective, Prop 7 would add complexity and unreachable standards to legislation that is already both sufficient and effective. Worse yet, it is laden with loopholes and inflexible standards that would require a 2/3 majority vote by the CA legislature to repair.

Alternative energy is a worthy cause that needs all the legislative support it can get. But the ill-conceived regulations in Prop 7 (drawn up by John Sperling, founder of the for-profit University of Phoenix) are destined for failure. One particularly egregious clause would allow contracts to suffice as demonstration of compliance, rather then actual production. California needs real energy solutions, not phantom projects that will never be completed.

Furthermore, Prop 7’s pricing policies rigidly restrain the price of renewable electricity, a foolhardy rule likely to impede important wind and solar projects while allowing natural gas prices to soar with the market. Such price limits could actually slow the development of renewable electricity projects by making it more difficult for them to attain financing.

Finally, Prop 7 bizarrely discriminates against projects that are less than 30 megawatts. Small projects should be favored over large projects because they can better meet local needs and provide local jobs. Such projects currently account for nearly 60 percent of current renewable energy projects. Many of these will be at risk of being driven out of the market entirely under Prop 7’s new structure.

The California legislature needs the freedom to create carefully designed policies that will promote equitable and effective energy policy. Prop 7 will erect practically irreversible frameworks requiring a 2/3 majority to reform, thus crippling the legislature’s ability to produce innovative and badly needed energy policies. In the words of the San Francisco Chronicle, Prop 7 drives renewable energy off a cliff. But you don’t have to take their word for it. Here is the extensive list of environmental organizations in opposition to Prop 7: California League of Conservation Voters, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, Coalition for Clean Air, Environment California, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club California, Union of Concerned Scientists.