Jon Warren Lentz Inc

BP just bought the Gulf of Mexico. But who will pay? The US, after the banks and the Valdez, shouldn’t let BP walk. But will immediate damages be assessed and paid? Immediately? I doubt it, even though both the economy and environment of huge swaths of coastline have been compromised in the US, Mexico, and the entire Caribbean including PR and Cuba. Ok, maybe not compromised. More likely, destroyed. Lands and people suffer while the goofers get rich. What about the guy who hung onto his house and his fishing boat through Katrina and the recession only now to lose it to … a leaky valve with no backup?

Is that what we want in California? More risk?

At this moment in time, as the Gulf of Mexico fills with an unplanned, unstoppable oil slick, we have a choice here in California. We can chose to intentionally modulate our economy towards cleaner, safer, and more dependable energy and infrastructure – thereby ensuring that the greatest number of Californians will have reliable, clean, conscionable jobs. Or we can choose to drill into the past and risk the regrettable waves of unplanned, disempowering job loss that flows – like an oil slick – into every corner of communities that are exposed to the dirty, incautious operations of fossil fools.

The choice of clear intention, the choice for a clean secure energy future is implicit in AB 32, while choosing to scuttle AB 32 isn’t really a choice; it’s a willingness to be manipulated by the slick machinations of big oil.

As I’ve said on previous occasions, AB 32 is an investment in our children’s future that protects our own present. Those who would stall AB 32 choose dirty skies and dwindling opportunities for our children’s future.