Nat'l Black Chamber of Commerce Opposes Calif AB 32

AAEA Supports AB 32

Our good friends at the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) are opposing California's AB 32 (The Global Warming Solutions Act), which, in our opinion will ensure that state greenhouse gas emission reductions are achieved while maintaining the competitiveness of California businesses and protecting the interests of consumers and workers. We believe the law will unleash that good old American ingenuity that will actually increase the creation of jobs and spur economic activity.

Of course, our good friend Harry Alford, President of the NBCC, disagrees with us, stating that:

"...the implementation of AB 32 would cost tens of billions of dollars in higher electricity bills, gasoline, food and other products. The average California family would end up paying $3,857 more every year for housing, transportation, food and energy. Businesses would be severely affected as well, including the small firms that create the vast majority of new jobs. The cost of AB 32 would average out to almost $50,000 per small businesses in California, a hit many of them couldn't survive."

Harry and the NBCC are concerned about potential job losses, particular for minorities:

"We can't afford to lose more jobs here, particularly for African-Americans, Hispanics and other people of color who have already suffered greatly during the economic downturn. The California economy has shed 1.3 million jobs since 2007, and our unemployment rate is the third highest in the nation, at 12.4 percent. More than 900,000 job seekers have been out of work at least 27 weeks, the largest number of long-term unemployed registered since record keeping began in 1990. But African-Americans and Hispanics are out of work in much larger numbers, hit hard by the housing market collapse and other factors. The unemployment rate for California Hispanics is estimated at 17 percent. Last March the National Urban League estimated that nationwide unemployment among African-Americans was nearly twice that of whites."

We empathize with Harry's concern about the high unemployment numbers among minorities, but, Mr. Alford, we have to respectfully disagree with you about the effects of AB 32. Again, we believe it will stimulate job creation. We believe it will create innovative manufacturing jobs and stimulate the creation of numerous small businesses that are the engines that can drive the California economy back to health. AAEA is registered in EPA's Acid Rain Program and the Northeaster Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). We supported Cap-and-Trade legislation at the national reason for the same reason we support AB 32, we believe it will be a net job creater. We have created our own carbon dioxide (CO2) trading house (Carbon Mercantile Exchange) to directly participate in a carbon marketing economy. We simply need mandatory programs that will give the market-oriented solution some teeth. And we are prepared to implement our innovative solutions just as we believe that other entrepreneurs would in California. (Mercury News, 7/27/2010)