Green Chamber of San Diego County and 30 San Diego CEOs Issue Statement Opposing Proposition 23

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Green Chamber of San Diego County, along with 30 San Diego CEOs, have joined to write an open letter to advise local voters about Proposition 23.

“As a group of CEOs from across the political spectrum representing varied San Diego businesses, we would like to urge San Diegans to vote No on Proposition 23.”

The letter follows:

“As a group of CEOs from across the political spectrum representing varied San Diego businesses, we would like to urge San Diegans to vote No on Proposition 23.

Passage of this proposition would effectively repeal the landmark Clean Energy Law, AB32. In anticipation of AB32 being implemented, the group has seen a boom of clean energy technology businesses that has created more than 500,000 new jobs and $9.1 billion in private equity investments to our state. In fact, clean technology jobs are growing at a rate 10 times the average of other industries.

The group states that support for Proposition 23 is being provided by large oil refining companies and related out-of-state interests who are primarily concerned about the impact of pollution control on their profits. These entities are using misleading scare tactics to try to convince Californians that Proposition 23 would save jobs in California. What they aren’t telling us is that Proposition 23 would halt the clean energy development and clean-tech job creation that have provided the only recent bright spot in our economy and one of the most promising global growth industries of this century. Killing off California’s fastest growing industry is a recipe for higher, not lower, unemployment.

Political leaders from both parties including the mayors and city councils of San Diego, La Mesa, Del Mar, Imperial Beach, Solana Beach and Chula Vista, along with over 1,000 companies, investors and business leaders across the state are in agreement with us that Prop 23 is bad for California and needs to be defeated.

As CEOs running businesses during these difficult economic times, the group firmly believes that passage of this initiative would be harmful at best and devastating at worst for our business community, neighborhoods, and the California economy.

A NO vote on Proposition 23 is a vote for more jobs in California.”

Respectfully,

Robert Noble, CEO, Envision Solar, Chair, San Diego CEOs

Yeves Perez, CEO, EcoHub, Co-Chair, San Diego CEOs

Ronald L. Pitt, CEO, EcoDog, Organizing Committee Member, San Diego CEOs

Anne Tolch, Organizing Committee Member

San Diego CEOs

Thomas Ackerman, CEO, Spirit Graphics and Printing

Barry Braden, CEO, Pizza Fusion Hillcrest

Barbara Burton, CEO, The Burton Company

Mike D’Ascanio, CEO, Earth-List

Jeffrey DiToro, CEO, Armor Grafix