We are shocked and saddened by Gov. Jerry Brown’s labeling as “political terrorism” the opposition by over 65 environmental justice, climate, and progressive groups to AB 398, which extended California’s cap and trade law through compromises with the oil industry. We at Climate Hawks Vote came into documented proof that his proposals had their genesis in a Western States Petroleum Association wish list. Accordingly, over 11,000 Climate Hawks Vote members signed a petition to ask him to stop acting as Chevron’s stenographer on important policy questions such as offsets, regulatory overrides, and allowance giveaways.
We are not political terrorists. We are people who agree with him that climate change, caused by oil companies and other fossil fuel interests, is an existential threat to organized human existence. We simply don’t agree with his solution: letting those same oil companies write California’s climate laws. Having shepherded the passage of his compromised bill, Brown could have elected to turn the page; instead, he’s lashing out at the climate movement for demanding a political approach sufficient to the severity of the climate crisis. We proudly stand with the climate justice movement of California in fighting for climate legislation that respects scientific necessity and the health and welfare of poor, black, and brown people in our state – and we expect to be fighting for visionary bills like California’s SB 100, to move California to a 100% renewable electricity standard by 2045.
And in an era in which Donald Trump casually tosses around the label of “terrorism” and demands that his political opponents be locked up, it’s sad to see Gov. Brown descending to this level of discourse.
