California, Dreamin’


I have a piece over on the homepage today looking at the fight over California’s landmark climate law, which could be delayed if an insidious ballot measure passes next month. With climate legislation delayed indefinitely in Washington, California has become the battleground between environmental groups and fossil fuel interests.

California’s climate law is the most comprehensive piece of legislation to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in the US. It’s also the most important, as the state is often the leader on environmental initiatives. This is, of course, why Proposition 23, which would stop implementation of the law next year, has become a hot spot of action this November. As Wade Crowfoot, the West Coast political director of the Environmental Defense Fund, told me, “If you can drive a stake in the heart of climate policy making in California, it will have a massive political chilling effect elsewhere in the country.”

With that in mind, the folks over at Dirty Energy Money this week launched a site to track the money oil and gas interests are spending to kill the law. At the new site you can see exactly where the $8.3 million from oil and gas interests is coming from.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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