here's a line of former president Bill Clinton's that appears in a ballot measure that resonates with me; he said "California is being given an opportunity to do something remarkable to save the planet, improve our national security and create the next generation of good jobs for the American people." He refers to Proposition 87 and it is a worthwhile idea.
On November 7th, Californians will be voting on this initiative to impose a higher extraction fee on oil pumped in California. To date, compared with other states, California has paid an extremely low extraction fee.
The funds raised are to be used to finance research and development of alternative fuels in universities and subsidies to consumers who purchase vehicles equipped to use alternative fuels and businesses that produce alternative fuels. I wish that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would outspokenly endorse the idea because it would mesh well with the carbon-reducing law that the Governor signed. This law would require this state to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Prop. 87 sets a goal of a 25% reduction in oil consumption in California in 10 years. At this time the Golden State consumes some 16 billion gallons of gasoline a year.
In an op-ed piece written by Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times, he quoted an explanation of Proposition 87 as outlined in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Oil companies would be taxed between 1.5 and 6 percent on the price of oil per barrel. The tax would end by 2017 or when the tax generates $4 billion, whichever occurs first." Friedman, in sharing his supportive opinion put it - bluntly- this way, "Naturally, oil companies like Exxon Mobil - which just paid its outgoing chairman, Lee Raymond, $400 million in his final year - are financing misleading ads to try to fool Californians into rejecting Proposition 87." Friedman is appealing to our Governor, in the last moments, to come out in favor of the proposition with this appeal:

"C'mon Arnold, just do it. No one will remember you for sparing Exxon from a tax hike. And no one will forget you for spurring America to realize a dream of clean, independent energy economy".

Maybe he's just scared of the words "new taxes." Governor, help make this state the centerpiece of America's green clean-power technologies.