Fossil fuel divestment bill passes California State Senate, moves to Assembly

Senate Bill 252, a bill that directs the two biggest public pension funds in the U.S.,  CalPERS and CalSTRS, to phase out fossil fuel investments, passed the California State Senate full floor by a vote of 22 to 10 today.

The final count is pending absentees. SB 252 will now move to the Assembly, where it is expected to begin moving through Committees mid-June.

The measure passed the Senate despite the Big Oil spending $9.4 million on lobbying the California Legislature, Governor’s Office and agencies in the first quarter of 2023, according to lobbying disclosures by the oil and gas industry  posted on the California Secretary of State’s website. That gusher of Big Oil money follows the fossil fuel industry spending over $34.2 million in the 2021-22 Legislative Session.

CalPERS and CalSTRS collectively represent $750.5 billion in assets and together hold over $44 billion in fossil fuels, bill advocates reported.

“It’s not if CalPERS and CalSTRS divest from fossil fuels – it’s when and how fast,” said Miriam Eide, Fossil Free California, in a press statement. “With Californians experiencing climate whiplash from deadly floods to intensifying fires, the brunt of this climate chaos is falling on those who have done the least to cause the crisis.”

“Massive gratitude goes to the students, teachers, union members, pensioners, and legislators for moving SB 252 through the Senate, and protecting our communities, pensions, and climate. California Assembly, here we come,” said Eide.

If the legislation passes the Assembly and is signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, California — the world’s fourth largest economy — could lead the financial sector “into a new era of financial prudence and risk-managed growth by removing toxic and volatile fossil fuel holdings from CalPERS and CalSTRS,” according to proponents.

SB 252 is widely supported, with over 140 California organizations endorsing, including unions representing over 470,000 members, and 4 Senate co-sponsors, with California State Treasurer Fiona Ma underscoring the bill allowing pensions “necessary time to prudently plan.”

“A unique coalition of students, retirees, teachers, union members and people from all over California have voiced their support, sending in over 1,300 letters to their senators, and for hearings, over 200 people joined in person or phoned in, while over 120 traveled to Sacramento to meet with legislators, as part of a Climate Accountability Lobby Day, in tandem support for SB 253 and SB 26,” proponents noted.

Meanwhile, Californians are facing climate whiplash, attempting to navigate lives, jobs, and families, mopping up from record-breaking flooding (estimated at $30 billion in damages in 2023 so far) following decades of drought, and girding for the ever-lengthening wildfire season, proponents argued.

“For California’s teachers, workers, and retirees, climate chaos isn’t a someday problem, it’s a right-now crisis,” added Miguel Alatorre. “Californians are ready to move swiftly on SB 252, and lead the nation on fiduciary responsibility, pension stability and growth. Together we are building a fossil free world for students, workers, retirees, and communities where all of us can thrive.”

The IPCC urgently warns that “there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all,” with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres exclaiming “new funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is delusional.”

“SB 252 passing the Senate today is monumental. It’s proof that it is possible for reform to occur despite the manipulations of the fossil fuel industry, despite those who push for the opposite and prioritize profits over lives,” said Anaya Sayal, 16, Youth vs. Apocalypse.

“It brings us one step closer to living in a world where we don’t have to live in a constant state of apprehension regarding health conditions, and issues we face because of climate chaos; that future generations will also face as a result of the climate catastrophe. I would like to thank bill author Senator Lena Gonzalez, the bill’s co-authors for supporting this bill, and for all of the youth and adults who worked tirelessly with them to get the bill to the point it is at today. Your hard work does not go unnoticed,” she stated.

The vote took place as fossil fuel industry lobbyists and the politicians they have captured work at the federal and state levels in attempts to ban common sense responsible and sustainable financial risk assessments, costing taxpayers millions.

“Even today fossil fuel companies are greenwashing rather than truly addressing climate change. And CalPERS unwittingly becomes party to that greenwashing, as when for example, it promoted to members Exxon’s bogus net zero by 2050 claims,” said Carlos Davidson, Faculty, San Francisco State University, CalSTRS member.

Unions representing more than 470,000 California workers support SB 252. Union support includes California Faculty Association, CFT- Union of Educators & Classified Professionals, California Nurses Association, AFSCME California, Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, and California Community College Independents, and more.

Opponents of the bill include the Western States Petroleum Association, California Independent Petroleum Association, California Professional Firefighters California Public Employees’ Retirement System, California State Teachers’ Retirement System, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, Association of California Cities – Orange County, Los Angeles County Business Federation and Riverside Sheriffs’ Association.

In their argument against the bill, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System claims, “CalSTRS is focused on ensuring a secure retirement for California’s more than one million working and retired public school educators. Liquidating these investments would reduce the diversification of the portfolio and create deviation from the benchmark, increasing risk and creating potential opportunity costs, which would place the CalSTRS Funding Plan at risk. Any resulting costs would increase the unfunded liability and may also result in an increase in the state’s contribution to the Defined Benefit Program.”

However, advocates cite multiple studies revealing that divestment leads to neutral or positive returns, removing volatile and risky assets from CalPERS and CalSTRS’s portfolios.

“If CalPERS and CalSTRS divested in 2009, the funds would have gained $17.4 billion by 2019, or $6,072 more per CalPERS member and $5,752 more per CalSTRS member. A June 2023 report from University of Waterloo is set to reveal updated data reflecting how much richer CalPERS and CalSTRS would have been,” advocates argued.

Bill Oil embarks on chilling campaign to sponsor dinners, awards and conferences for journalists

The vote took place as the Western States Petroleum Association has embarked on a major campaign to sponsor dinners, awards and conferences for journalists In California and throughout the country.

WSPA, the largest corporate lobbying group in California, and big oil companies exercise their influence and power through a very sophisticated and well-oiled machine that has captured the regulatory apparatus in the supposedly “green” and “progressive” state.

WSPA wields their power in 8 major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) serving on and putting shills on regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups; (5) working in collaboration with media; (6) sponsoring awards ceremonies, including those for legislators and journalists; (7) contributing to non profit organizations; and (8) creating alliances with labor unions.

In one of the clearest examples of the collaboration between Big Oil and the media, the Western States Petroleum Association sponsored a “media dinner” on Tuesday, February 28 in Sacramento as part of #BizFedSactoDays.

The flyer for the event stated, “Journalists who play an outsize role in shaping narratives about state politics and holding lawmakers accountable will join business leaders to pull back the curtain on how they select and tell stories about California policies, policy and power.”

Featured speakers at the program included Coleen Nelson of the Sacramento Bee, Laurel Rosenhall of the Los Angeles Times, Kaitlyn Schallhorn of the Orange County Register and Dan Walters of Cal Matters.

In a tweet, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in Southern California, gushed:

“One of our favorite times of year is #BizFedSactoDays- when @BizFed helps amplify the presence and power of business in California. And we’re honored to host the Media Dinner and featured media speakers! @DanCALmatters @LaurelRosenhall@ColleenMNelson @K_Schallhorn”

Then on March 16, the Sacramento Press Club announced in a tweet that WSPA was the new “Lede Sponsor” of the Sacramento Press Club’s Journalism Awards Reception that was held on March 29: “Thank you to our new Lede Sponsor @officialWSPA! WSPA is dedicated to guaranteeing that every American has access to reliable energy options through socially, economically and environmentally responsible policies and regulations. Learn more more at http://wspa.org”

In response to this tweet, investigative journalist Aaron Cantu tweeted back on March 20, “As the recipient of @SacPressClub ’s environmental award last year, it’s concerning to see fossil fuel industry talking points passed off uncritically here. WSPA becoming lede sponsor happened in the context of a global PR turn as the climate crisis worsens.”

There is no doubt that WSPA and Big Oil have for years worked closely with media outlets.

In 2015, I wrote this article about how LA Times and the California Resources Corporation (formerly Occidental Petroleum) teamed up on a propaganda website: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/30/1442947/-LA-Times-and-Big-Oil-team-up-on-propaganda-website. Fortunately, the Times is no longer managing and running that website.

More recently, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, WSPA President,  was on the “short list” of nominees for the LA Times “Inspirational Women Awards” held on October 18, 2022. Yes, WSPA was a sponsor.

According to a tweet from @OfficialWSPA, “Today @latimes acknowledged a woman who is already well known in our industry as a trailblazer and inspiration to tens of thousands of women. Congrats to our fearless leader @WSPAPrez for being recognized as a shortlisted nominee for the Inspirational Women Awards.”

In addition, four LA Times reporters last year received the “Courage in Journalism” award from the Sacramento Press Club in 2022. Yes, the Western States Petroleum Association was one of the sponsors of these awards last year also.

In addition to sponsoring journalism events in California, the Western States Petroleum Association has expanded its campaign to influence journalists nationally. WSPA and the controversial waste management firm Veolia North America sponsored events at this year’s Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) conference in Boise, Idaho, according to a report from DeSmog: scq.io/…

“The agenda for the conference, which is being hosted in Boise, Idaho, shows that the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and the waste management company Veolia North America are sponsoring two of the “beat dinners” hosted on Friday, April 21 — the third day of the event,” the article by Sam Bright reported.

Fortunately, WSPA and Veolia’s sponsorships of the SEJ conference spurred condemnation by at least one group, Fossil Fuel Media.

“There’s no excuse for these sorts of conflicts of interest,” Jamie Henn of the campaign and communications group Fossil Free Media told Bright. “By letting the fossil fuel industry sponsor events, groups like SEJ lend credibility to bad actors” that are attempting to “influence coverage and maintain their social license by pretending to be well-meaning supporters of the free press.”

Total number of oil drilling permits soars to 14,622

Big Oil’s campaign to influence the political system and the journalists that cover it has real world consequences in California, where oil drilling permits have skyrocketed in recent weeks.

In a major display of Big Oil’s continuing political power in California, a total of 897 oil drilling permits have been approved since the start of the year by CalGEM, the state’s oil and gas regulator. Of those, 556 permits (62%) were issued inside the 3200 foot health protection zones that would have been created by Senate Bill 1137, according to an analysis by Kyle Ferrar, Western Coordinator of the Fractracker Alliance.

This brings the total number of permits to an astounding 14,622 new and reworked oil drilling permits approved by CalGEM since Jan. 2019, when Newsom took office.

According to FracTracker’s analysis of data from state oil regulator CalGEM, permits were issued within 3,200 feet of Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Central Coast and Northern California communities. Download a map of permit approvals within the 3,200’ health protective zone.

The California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA) sponsored the referendum that has delayed the implementation of the setbacks law for two years. Filings with the California Secretary of State reveal that oil companies funneled over $20 million  to the committee Stop the Energy Shutdown, a “Coalition Of Small Business Owners, Concerned Taxpayers, Local Energy Producers And The California Independent Petroleum Association.

The oil and gas industry spent over $34.2 million in the 2021-22 Legislative Session lobbying against SB 1137, legislation to mandate 3200 foot buffer zones around oil and gas wells, and other bills they were opposed to.

For the oil companies, this was just pocket change when you consider that combined profits of California oil refiners, including PBF Energy, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Valero, and Phillips 66, were $75.4 billion in 2022.

Big Oil spent a total of $4,220,214 in lobbying expenses in the last quarter from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, according to data posted on the California Secretary of State’s website. That brings the total of oil and gas corporation lobbying expenses to $34,270,001 in the eight quarters of the 2021-22 session: cal-access.sos.ca.gov/…

The Western States Petroleum Association, the trade association that represents companies that account for the bulk of petroleum exploration, production, refining, transportation and marketing in the five western states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, spent $11,720,912 in the 2021-22 session.

Chevron Corporation, the San-Ramon based oil giant that is infamous for environmental devastation and degradation from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Richmond, California, spent a total of $8,631,118 lobbying California officials in the 2021-22 session.

While a long and hard-fought campaign by environmental justice groups, with the help of Governor Gavin Newsom, was able to finally get SB 1137 approved by the Legislature, other important bills were stopped by oil industry-backed legislators, Those measures include a bill to ban offshore drilling off the California coast and a previous bill to divest State of California pension funds from investments in the fossil fuel industry.

However, the latest P.R. push by Big Oil — and the apparent embrace of this campaign by journalists — truly marks the end of political satire in “green” California. When #BigOil teams up with journalists, columnists and editors at events and only a couple of writers thinks there’s something wrong with this, you know we must be in deep trouble.