Oil and Tech Money Back Measure to Limit California Environmental Law

Published on October 21, 2026

By Aaron Cantú

A 49.5 megawatt three-level data center under construction on April 14 in Vernon, California. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Big Tech companies and California’s largest oil and gas well operator are spending millions to pass a ballot measure that would clear hurdles for industrial projects such as gas pipelines and possibly data centers.

Proposition 45 would alter the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA, which requires often time-consuming reviews and public input for infrastructure and other construction projects. Those requirements would be clipped if voters pass the proposition in November, making projects harder to stop or delay.

The half-century-old environmental law has come under scrutiny for slowing housing construction, among other complaints. Last year, the state Legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills exempting housing in developed urban and suburban areas from the law and giving “advanced manufacturing” businesses a pass. 

It wasn’t enough to speed along needed housing, clean energy and other projects, say the proposition’s backers. California needs Proposition 45 to further “cut bureaucratic red tape and unnecessary delays,” as the measure’s text puts it, and make the state more affordable. 

But the initiative’s opponents say such appeals are disingenuous. Housing and clean energy have never been “the real agenda behind this ballot measure,” said Woody Little, a campaign organizer with Last Chance Alliance, which advocates for a fossil-fuel-free California. “It’s always been about polluting projects they can get through under the guise of addressing the housing crisis.” 

In addition to speeding up environmental reviews for housing, wastewater treatment plants and other facilities, the proposition would benefit businesses behind projects that capture climate-warming carbon dioxide pollution. 

Among them is California Resources Corp., an oil company that has spent $1 million to promote Proposition 45. The firm owns thousands of oil wells in the state and is developing technology it says is capturing carbon dioxide from its Elk Hills natural-gas power plant in Kern County. The proposition excludes new oil and gas production from its provisions but includes carbon dioxide pipelines.

A network of political insiders and oil lobbyists has secured state incentives for carbon capture technology, mirroring industry efforts worldwide. California’s anti-emissions plans for the next two decades lean heavily on transporting carbon dioxide, a volatile gas, through hundreds of miles of pipelines spanning urban and rural areas to be buried under the Central Valley. Yet as a solution for climate change, capturing carbon has failed at scale and will likely never succeed, an investigation by the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica found.

California Resources Corp. has expanded its political influence in recent years. It is lobbying the state Public Utilities Commission to apply clean-power funds to electricity generated from methane, a fossil fuel, if the exhaust is captured. It’s spending money on state legislative races, funding more than a dozen business-friendly Democrats known to stonewall environmental legislation. And it gave gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, also a Democrat, more than any other politician this election cycle, contributing half a million dollars to his campaign in May.

Yet California Resources Corp.’s greatest spending during this election cycle has been devoted to Proposition 45. In December, a company subsidiary gave $500,000 to a committee of the California Chamber of Commerce, the initiative’s sponsor. (The Chamber now brands itself as CalChamber.) In August, California Resources Corp. gave another $500,000 directly to the Yes on 45 campaign.

The oil company may have played a role in other contributions to the campaign. A Chamber of Commerce committee lent $2 million to the Proposition 45 campaign in June. The chamber’s board of directors, which includes California Resources Corp. chief executive Francisco Leon, controls that spending.

Unlike carbon capture, AI data centers may or may not be expedited by Proposition 45. While the initiative applies to “essential broadband internet access” infrastructure, supporters and opponents of the measure disagree on what this means. But campaign records show companies with data center interests back the proposition. 

That includes California Resources Corp., which partnered with the developer Beacon Data Centers to advance a 275-megawatt campus for the technology using electricity from its Elk Hills plant.

Another company in the sector, Prologis, donated $500,000 for Proposition 45 via its Modern Infrastructure Alliance Action Fund. The company — whose Western regional president, Megan Creecy-Herman, is a Chamber of Commerce board member — is planning five data centers in San Jose. The Modern Infrastructure Alliance Action Fund’s disclosure form lists the law firm Nielsen Merksamer, which formed fake consumer groups to buy ads opposing oil refinery regulation in 2023, the San Francisco Chronicle found.

One Nielsen Merksamer partner, Kurt Oneto,  describes himself as the “official proponent” of Proposition 45 and is also a member of the chamber’s board. A law firm representative didn’t return Capital & Main’s call seeking comment.

Other data center developers and AI boosters, including Google co-founder and centibillionaire Sergey Brin, spent $10 million through a committee called Building a Better California in support of Proposition 45. Nielsen Merksamer’s phone number is listed as a contact for that committee. 

Utilities that could benefit from faster approvals for transmission and distribution infrastructure, as well as methane gas capture projects, also gave millions in support of Proposition 45. 

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which is developing mixed-use residential and data center projects in San Jose, gave $2.3 million to Yes on 45 through another committee managed by Nielsen Merksamer. 

Edison International gave $2 million directly to Yes on 45, and its affiliate Southern California Edison Company sent another $2 million to CalChamber’s Business PAC. That committee donated $3.4 million to Yes on 45.

Sempra, whose companies include Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric, contributed $1 million to the California Building Industry Association Issues Committee Supporting Proposition 45. 

More big spending is on the horizon in the final weeks before the midterm. In September, a committee backed by California Resources Corp., Chevron and other corporations, called Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy, sent $500,000 to a new committee called Golden State Forward. The group’s registration form shows its officers include lawyers at Nielsen Merksamer. At publication time, its main beneficiaries were Assembly candidates Eric Lucan in the Bay Area and David Penaloza in Orange County, both Democrats fending off more progressive challengers in tight races.