The state that is home to Hollywood often leads the nation when it comes to creating illusion. Sometimes, the illusion becomes a law like AB32, the so-called “Global Warming Solutions Act”. Two Democratic presidents and one Republican agreed in deciding that the Kyoto Protocol was a fundamentally flawed idea and refrained from having the United States commit to it.
California, however, is governed by legislators who are clueless about the fact that the state is teetering on the edge of a cliff and are more than willing to pass laws that will help push it over. AB32 is a Kyoto-esque bill that seeks to reduce the state’s carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. It was sold to the citizens with the dubious “stimulate green jobs” sales pitch that, so far, has proven to be more of a dream than a reality.
The law purports to create an economic green tech boom in California through the research and development of solar and wind power (the latter of which is becoming increasingly problematic).
California now faces unemployment levels second only to Michigan and a perpetual budget crisis that is only made worse by laws that kill jobs and financially prop up industries that are unable to compete in the marketplace on their own merits. Prop 23 is a ballot initiative that would suspend AB32 until the unemployment level in the state hits 5.5% (or lower) for four consecutive quarters.
As this is such a hot-button issue for those on both sides, the money is flying all over the place to fight it. The largest financial contributor to the “No On 23” effort is is hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, who heads up Farallon Capital in San Francisco. Steyer is bankrolling a counter campaign that paints Prop 23 as a public health hazard. A quick look at the companies Farallon invests in would indicate that his deep concern for the havoc being wrought on the public health by carbon fuels doesn’t extend much beyond the California border, however.
Farallon owns almost ten percent of a company called FreightCar America, a company that boldly proclaims on its website that, “No one builds more aluminum, steel, and stainless steel coal cars than FreightCar America.” That’s a significant investment in a company that’s solely in the business of transporting environmentalists’ least favorite fuel.
Farallon also invests in the second largest coal company in Indonesia, Adaro. Check out the picture Adaro has on the linked page. Getting that “committed green evangelist” vibe about Steyer yet?
Coal isn’t the only thoroughly non-green fuel Steyer is directing investors’ money towards. His fund also has stakes in two oil and natural gas exploration companies: Sandridge Energy and Energy Partners, Ltd
It is often pointed out by climate change skeptics that the deeds of the most prominent voices preaching climate doom rarely match their apocalyptic caterwauling. How many times a year does Al Gore circumnavigate the globe in a gasoline fueled jet to condescendingly tell the masses that their use of gasoline is killing the planet?
And how worried can Tom Steyer be about the ill effects of carbon fuels if he’s helping to fund the development and delivery of them?
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.