California Treasure Bill Lockyer is retaliating against two Texas-based refiners that are supporting Proposition 23, the California ballot initiative to rollback the state’s global warming law until unemployment (now at 12.4 percent) recedes to 5.5 percent.
According to Climatewire:
… state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a former attorney general, urged the state’s largest public employee investment funds to divest themselves of Valero and Tesoro stock.
Lockyer sent a letter to the public pension funds, known as CalPERS and CalSTRS, asking them to rid themselves of any stock connected to the refiners Valero and Tesoro. Lockyer charged the companies with attempting to constrain gasoline supplies in California to ensure profits for years to come — and opposing the state’s climate change law as a means to ensure that constraint.
“CalPERS and CalSTRS should not be investing in Texas oil companies that hurt the California economy, no more than they should invest in companies that spend millions of shareholder dollars to undermine California’s environmental laws and the state’s green energy industries and green tech jobs,” Lockyer wrote.
Lockyer, a board member at CalPERS, is expected to ask the board tomorrow to divest Valero and Tesoro holdings during a meeting.”
It was also reported to this blog that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who views the global warming law as his signature accomplishment, kept Chevron out of the Proposition 23 battle by threatening the company with adverse tax measures.
Bill Lockyer is just posturing. If he were to tell the truth, he would have to admit that he and his fellow liberals have completely screwed up California’s fossil industries and state economy.
There have been no new refineries built to keep pace with the population growth in 30 years. In a sign of epic hypocricy most of the refined producets and natural gas have to be imported from out of state (thank you Texas). Yet, there is as much oil sitting off the coast of California as has ever been produced in the entire US.
Those lost roylaties and production taxes, along with burgeoning social programs and gov’t union budgets have doomed California economy.
California will have to declare bankrupcy soon to get out from underneath its’ oppressive negative budget. The biggest losers will be gov’t workers who will lose their pensions and high paying jobs.
If they were to own stocks in Texas companies, they would consider themselves lucky. Nothing else in California will be worth spit.
Excellent! Keep those Texans out! Wish we could do the same in Colorado! Greedy scum.