Dear Senator Blakespear:
On behalf of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO, representing nearly half a million working women and men in the construction industry, including over 65,000 enrolled in our state-of-the-art apprenticeship programs around the state, I write in opposition to SB 684 (Menjivar) “Polluters Pay Climate Recovery Act 2024.”
As you are aware, our members work both in California’s refineries and in California’s solar fields and on many other types of green energy projects making us uniquely positioned in energy policy. Our members have been at the forefront of our state’s climate crisis response. It was our members’ hard work in both entitling and building our vast utility-scale renewable resources such as offshore wind,geothermal, hydrogen, bio-fuels, carbon capture, energy storage, and many more that has allowed California to become a global leader in renewable power generation.
However, we understand California will remain dependent on traditional fuels as we continue to build and support the new energy infrastructure of tomorrow and premature shuttering of existing power and energy production in California will only hurt working families. This bill, if it could garner two-thirds support and be signed by the Governor, would undoubtedly lead to the closure of California’s refineries and traditional power generation, creating an unspeakable crisis for working families as both the cost of commuting to work and school and to power homes would skyrocket. Additionally, if this bill were successful, it would mean massive job losses for our members as well as workers throughout the industrial sector, which would not only have a devastating effect on individual families but also on the economy of California and local cities and towns.
We urge this committee to mind the realities of transition. We are working hard to develop new fuels and energy sources as well as state-of-the-art pollution control technology and carbon capture. We need to bring these technologies online before we turn away from traditional fuels, and this committee could take a pivotal role in expediting these technologies. We look forward to working with you to do so.
It is for these reasons that we ask for your NO vote on SB 684 when it is heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
Sincerely,
JEREMY SMITH
Chief of Staff