California Anti-Cap-and-Tax Proposition Qualifies for November Ballot

This is good news:

California headed for a high-stakes battle over global warming Tuesday, as an oil industry-backed measure to suspend the state's aggressive climate-change law qualified for the November ballot.

The fight will pit the state's powerful environmental organizations and clean-tech businesses against the oil and manufacturing industries. It also arrays many conservative political leaders, including the GOP nominee for governor, Meg Whitman, against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican who regards the global warming law as a key part of his legacy.

Whitman has said she would suspend the global-warming law for one year but has not endorsed the initiative.

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The measure, launched six months ago by Texas oil giants Valero Energy Inc. and Tesoro Corp., comes as the industry has fallen under intense scrutiny in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.

Under California's law, known as AB 32, the state is setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, oil refineries and other industries, and will probably require that a third of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020, up from about 15% today. New rules under the law would encourage sales of more fuel-efficient cars.

Supporters of the law say it has spurred a large market for solar, wind and other clean energy sources.

But backers of the ballot effort, who are calling their measure "the California Jobs Initiative paint the climate law as "an energy tax." Their initiative would halt enforcement of the law until unemployment in the state, now over 12%, sinks to 5.5% for at least a year.
"AB 32 will impose billions of dollars in higher utility rates and fuel prices on California families when they can least afford it," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn, and co-chair of the initiative campaign.

Given the damage done to the state by the legislature and aided by Gov. Arnold it's unlikely we'll see a 5.5% unemployment rate ever again, and if that keeps the California version of cap-and-tax away, we can consider that the silver lining in the unemployment storm cloud.