Obama: No on Prop. 23 and 'corporate polluters' | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times

Obama: No on Prop. 23 and 'corporate polluters' | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times

Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Shultz, Robert Redford, Bill Gates, James Cameron, Leonardo Di Caprio and Al Gore have all weighed in to oppose California's Proposition 23, a November ballot initiative. Now comes the uber-endorsement for the No on 23 campaign: President Obama.

"The president is opposed to Prop. 23 -- a veiled attempt by corporate polluters to block progress towards a clean energy economy," White House spokesman Adam Abrams announced Wednesday. "If passed, the initiative would stifle innovation, investment in R&D and cost jobs for the state of California."

But it is not just about the Golden State. Abrams added, "The impacts could affect us all. If successful, corporate special interests will set their sights nationwide."

The White House might well be worried: Both proponents and opponents of the measure, which would suspend the implementation of California's sweeping global warming law, say that as California goes, so go national prospects for climate change legislation.

Congress last spring killed a comprehensive bill aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and spurring alternative energy, leaving California with the only economy-wide greenhouse gas law in the nation. Scientists say that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, spewed into the atmosphere by cars, trucks and industrial plants, are trapping heat in the atmosphere and disrupting the global climate.