Tycoon in a (green) sheep's clothing

If you haven’t heard already, Prop 10 is a joke.

Prop 10 – the California Renewable Energy and Clean Alternative Fuel Bond Proposition – is the brainchild of T. Boone Pickens, a Texas oil tycoon. It positions him to benefit handsomely from a distortion of the energy market that is costly for taxpayers and contrary to responsible energy and environmental policy.

Prop 10 diverts $5 billion away from crucial areas like education, transportation, and public health, primarily to subsidize the natural gas fuels industry. The cost to taxpayers over 30 years would be $10 billion or about $335 million a year. If such a dramatic amount is going to be diverted from vital services, especially in a financial crisis, it better be for a damn good reason. But it’s not.

It would be one thing if Prop 10 provided a boost that was clearly necessary and effective. However, the measure’s centerpiece is a bundle of incentives that mainly benefits fleet operators and corporations buying or leasing natural gas trucks – without any requirements that these trucks will actually improve air quality or reduce greenhouse gases. Even if some improvement is assumed, the incentive is only available to a narrow chunk of the fuels market, excluding hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric cars, and other clean fuels.

By essentially legislating the creation of an artificial market, Prop 10 distracts from investment and development in more fruitful energy solutions. And, even if it weren’t such a flawed plan, it duplicates programs that already exist. Furthermore, increased demand for natural gas will encourage more potentially destructive drilling and, unluckily for the consumer, will also mean higher electricity and heating bills.

Prop 10 is indefensible on its merits. Its existence is only explainable when you learn that T. Boone Pickens just so happens to be the founder and majority shareholder in Clean Energy, North America’s largest vehicular natural gas provider. He paid $3 million to collect enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot, hoping to greenwash his way into a guaranteed market for his company. Thankfully, voters will likely be in no mood for such shenanigans in the middle of a financial crisis and Mr. Pickens will have to think of another way to line his pockets.

Selected organizations against Prop 10: California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), The Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Environment California, Plug In America, The Alliance for Responsible Energy Policy (AREP), Consumer Federation of California, California Chamber of Commerce.

http://www.prop10yes.com
http://www.noonproposition10.org