Obama, Gates, and Gore come out against Prop 23 | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Obama, Gates, and Gore come out against Prop 23 | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Al Gore have come out fighting against Prop 23, the ballot to rollback California's global warming law. As a new poll showed that nearly half of likely California voters now oppose Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would suspend the state's global warming law, heavy hitters from President Obama to Al Gore and Bill Gates came out against the initiative on Wednesday.

With the president on a West Coast campaign swing, a White House spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that Obama "is opposed to Prop. 23," calling the ballot measure backed by two Texas oil companies "a veiled attempt by corporate polluters to block progress towards a clean energy economy."

"If passed, the initiative would stifle innovation, investment in R&D and cost jobs for the state of California," the Obama spokesperson said.

Gore, meanwhile, issued a statement saying, "The fight for America's clean energy future is taking place right now, and it's come to California. This is a fight we simply cannot afford to lose."

Gates, the Microsoft founder turned philanthropist, weighed in with a $700,000 contribution to the No on 23 campaign on Tuesday. The Nature Conservancy donated $500,000, bringing this week's No on 23 fundraising total, so far, to more than $1.3 million. The Yes campaign, which is being underwritten by the petrochemical industry, has taken in $7,000.

As of Wednesday, the No forces had raised a total of more than $28 million, compared to the Yes campaign's $9.1 million, according to California Secretary of State records.

Prop 23 would suspend California's global warming law, known as AB 32, until the state unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters, which has happened only three times in the past four decades.