Valero and Tesoro (dirty oil energy companies), the two biggest backers of proposition 23, only have 4,000 employees in California.
Compare that paltry number of dinosaur jobs to the clean-energy industry in California:
The number of clean energy businesses and clean energy jobs has increased in California 45% and 36%, respectively, in the period between 1995-2008. [17] This rate of growth is 10 times more than the state’s average job growth rate.[18]
California has over 12,000 clean energy businesses [19] and 500,000 people are employed in clean energy occupations.[20] With over $9 billion in venture capital funds, California’s clean energy firms have received 60% of venture capital funds in North America [21].
The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has stated that suspending AB 32 would “dampen additional investments in clean energy technologies or so-called ‘green jobs’ by private firms, thereby resulting in less economic activity than would otherwise be the case.” [22]
