Valley Firms Push California Oil Tax

isabotage3 writes, "Still smarting from California's recent enactment of emissions caps, the oil industry is confronting another assault in the Golden State — this one bankrolled in part by Silicon Valley tycoons pushing to fund conservation and alternative-energy initiatives with a tax on oil output. Slightly more than half the money raised by the Prop 87 tax would be earmarked to help cut gasoline and diesel use. Another 27 percent would be put toward alternative-energy research at California universities. The remainder would be used to help start-ups, retrain energy workers in new fields, and for administration." Oil companies claim the backers of Prop 87, some of them venture capitalists, would profit from state money flowing into the alternative-energy projects they are funding.

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I think I speak for everyone when I say...

[Garse Janacek]

Still smarting from California's recent enactment of emissions caps, the oil industry is confronting another assault...

Poor, poor oil executives :'(

Damn it people, when will you finally stand up and say "enough is enough?" These people already have to suffer through the uncertainty of how to spend billions in federal subsidies, and what to do with their record-breaking profits, higher than that of any other industry at any other time in human history... that's a lot of pressure! And now this?!

These people are true unsung heroes.

Have we learned nothing?

[TheWoozle]

Come on people, this is America we're talking about here.

If you want to reduce dependence on foreign oil, make sure that advertisements, TV shows, and movies only associate automobiles with fat, ugly people. As it is right now, all the stars drive big cars - the less fuel efficient the better. Can you name me one automobile over $100,000 that gets at least 25 mpg?

Even better, someone whip up an astroturf campaign complete with "scientific studies" that show that fossil fuels cause impotence.

Save it for later!

[Kadin2048]

In the long run this might actually be a good thing for California. If it encourages oil to be consumed from the Middle East or Venezuela first, then it just means that oil is still in the ground to be pumped out and sold later, when the price will probably be higher. Given the rate at which oil prices have risen and will probably rise in the future (well ahead of the rest of the market), keeping the oil in the ground for later probably isn't a bad investment. However, it's not one that most companies would make, because they're too focused on short-term profitability.

By making it economically unfeasible to use the oil now, Californians might be unwittingly doing themselves a favor: they'll suffer now, but once the oil elsewhere is gone and they're all that's left (of easily extractable reserves), it's fat city.

The only exception to this would be if there was some plan to take the money that would be gained from pumping and selling that oil now, and doing something with it that would be more profitable than just leaving it in the ground until the price goes up. Given the way that both industry and government squander cash, I suspect this is unlikely. Whatever they're going to make by selling it now will probably just be blown on stuff that has little or no lasting impact.

Re:Follow the money

[Howserx]

That's a great idea! I'll find 30 or so of my friends, give us a year and 30 Million dollars and I'll give you a commission report that says "Spend less"