California Activists Urge Boycott of Valero Gas

SAN FRANCISCO (April 9) -- California activists are calling for a boycott of Valero gas stations after the Texas oil company contributed $500,000 toward a ballot measure that would delay implementation of the state's landmark global warming law.

The Courage Campaign and CREDO Action, two progressive grassroots organizations, called on the public to stop buying gasoline at Valero and Beacon stations after the oil company became the largest single contributor to the campaign to qualify the initiative.

"What is particularly troubling is that anyone who buys gasoline from Valero is now helping to fund audacious attacks on California's air quality standards," CREDO Action President Michael Kieschnick said in a statement released by the two groups. "Valero believes it will be cheaper to deceive California voters than to compete in the new energy economy."

The ballot measure, financed primarily by oil companies, is aimed at slowing implementation of a law known as AB32, which requires that the state's greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020. The law was signed in 2006 by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and is considered one of the major accomplishments of his first term as governor.

The ballot measure would suspend the law's implementation until California's unemployment rate falls below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters. The rate is now 12.5 percent, one of the highest in the nation. At the time the measure passed, unemployment was about 4.8 percent, said Anita Mangels, communications director for the campaign.

"The initiative is very simple," she said. "All it would do is adjust the timetable for the implementation of regulations under AB32 until California's dismal unemployment situation improves."

Proponents of the measure are aiming for the November ballot and need about 433,000 valid signatures to qualify. In recent decades, corporations and special interest groups have backed many of the state's initiatives and contributed millions of dollars to get them on the ballot.

The Political Economy Research Institute ranks the Valero Energy Corp. 12th on its list of the 100 worst air polluters in the United States.

Bill Day, executive director of media relations for Valero, declined to comment on the company's contribution to the ballot measure or the boycott of its gas stations.

The Courage Campaign and CREDO Action were urging members to e-mail Valero CEO Bill Klesse directly to tell him of their support for the boycott.

On its Web site, CREDO Action posted e-mail replies it said members had received from Klesse in which he maintained that carbon dioxide emissions are not air pollution, an opinion at odds with the views of the scientific community.

Backers of the initiative are seeking to make jobs the issue, not the environment.

"We are not about stopping carbon reduction," Mangels said. "We are about doing it in a responsible manner that won't destroy jobs and cost billions of dollars at the worst possible time."

But Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign, countered that the oil company's measure would reduce jobs in the state's growing green technology sector.

"Beyond the wanton destruction of our environment, Valero's initiative is a job killer for California that will stifle innovation and deepen America's dependence on foreign oil," he said. "Our message to the Texas polluters trying to disguise corporate greed as corporate citizenship is, 'don't mess with California.'"