Elias: California must do better to make Big Oil pay for climate change
There s been deep irony in Sacramento this summer as a few normally environmentally oriented state senators deep-sixed what could have been the year s the greater part fundamental promising new environmental law Related Articles Elias Playing fireman Trump has certainly increased California s fire jeopardy Elias Doomed bill to unmask immigration agents still means something Elias California s pot industry doesn t deserve special status or favors At issue was whether oil companies could be held liable for damage from future wildfires caused at least in part by weather change The state Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the measure came just two days after a Louisiana jury held oil giant Chevron liable by for million to restore damage to Louisiana s coastal wetlands The situation was the first of plenty of pending against oil companies that have supposedly lied about whether their policies led to land loss along that state s coast reaching from the mouth of the Mississippi River Keeping alive California s somewhat similar bill SB to allow for assessing damages after California fires would have required seven votes in committee but it only got five from Democrats Scott Wiener of San Francisco Ben Allen of Santa Monica John Laird of Santa Clara Henry Stern of Los Angeles and Akilah Weber Pierson of La Mesa Several senators avoided going on the record directly against this bill by abstaining from voting on it which was essentially as good as voting no The bill was strongly opposed by business and labor groups who contended that it would substantially raise California s cost of living One research was presented by the California Center for Jobs and the Financial sector a nominally nonpartisan think tank founded by business interests that was established by the California Business Roundtable That survey contended that businesses facing massive litigation costs like those assessed at least temporarily against Chevron will pass expenses on to consumers That it stated could raise gasoline costs to per gallon and raise electric rates for industrial users Wiener and environmentalists backing the bill could muster no solid evidence against this contention so Democratic senators like Tom Umberg of Anaheim and Maria Elena Durazo of Los Angeles withheld their votes Meanwhile the Environmental Voters of California argued that assessing oil companies for damage they indirectly cause would save enough in insurance premiums to make up for any other costs Preponderance of the committee did not find that convincing though Business interests were delighted by the bill s defeat I applaud the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who stood up for a more affordable California and voted down this unconstitutional measure commented Kyla Christofferson Powell the president and chief executive officer of the Justice Association of California which does not disclose all its financial backers but has had past backing from the California Association of Realtors Wiener and other supporters had hoped his bill would become a model for other states where oil companies have lied about the effects of environment change Californians are paying a devastating price for the situation disasters that have and will continue to wreak havoc on our state Wiener reported Noting that the January firestorms that devastated large parts of Los Angeles County occurred far outside normal fire seasons Wiener added that tens of thousands of people in Southern California have lost their homes and large swaths of their society and it happened in the middle of winter He added that fires are not the only climate-related disasters afflicting California saying mudslides and floods are also increasing Meanwhile Wiener insists no mechanism exists in California to charge those damages to the parties most of responsible for them including oil companies All this talk makes totally certain that a similar measure will be back before the Legislature next year No company is big enough to walk away scot-free revealed John Carmouche who was the lead plaintiff lawyer in the landmark Louisiana event Carmouche of class did not participate in the negotiations that forced California consumers to pay million into the state s Wildfire Fund to cover still unassessed costs from fires caused by power company equipment No companies like Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas Electric did not quite walk away scot-free but they came close to achieving that corporate aim The bottom line If next year s outcome on the inevitable attempt at a similar bill is to be different there will have to be more hard information on the savings that a law like Wiener s might bring Email Thomas Elias at tdelias aol com and read more of his columns online at californiafocus net
