PROP 45 OPPONENTS, INCLUDING EATON FIRE SURVIVORS, BLAST EDISON, SEMPRA AND MEASURE’S OTHER...

LOS ANGELES –  Eaton fire survivors and other Prop 45 opponents with the group “People Over Polluters” rallied today outside the downtown office of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to blast Edison International’s $4 million in contributions to pass Prop 45.

Prop 45 is the California Chamber of Commerce’s 41-page ballot initiative that would roll back state environmental protections and weaken the state’s defense against President Trump’s attack on state clean air, water, and public health laws. As the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday, the measure could fast-track data center development and silence community concerns about polluting projects.

Prop 45 opponents displayed a giant $10 million check, highlighting that together with Edison International, Sempra, and PG&E, for-profit utilities and data center developers have given more than a whopping $10 million to the Prop 45 campaign.

The following table, drawn from publicly available campaign finance disclosures, breaks down the spending by contributor:

“We stopped the utility bailout by demanding transparency and accountability,” said Joy Chen with Every Fire Survivor’s Network. “Prop. 45 takes California in the opposite direction, giving developers more power to push projects through and communities less power to protect themselves. I’ve been a developer, a deputy mayor and now a fire survivor. Every one of those experiences tells me: vote no on Prop 45.”

“Edison reported $531 million in profit in just three months this year,” said Zaire Calvin, an Eaton Fire survivor and Altadena organizer whose sister, Evelyn McClendon, was the first victim found during the fire. “And they used $4 million on Proposition 45, while Altadena families are still fighting to come home. Four million to push a proposition. Where is that urgency when our people need stabilization? Follow the money. Vote NO on Proposition 45.”

“Prop 45 will continue patterns of systemic racism in our state,” said Sylvia Arredondo

with Communities for a Better Environment. “It will make it easier for data center developers and the utilities that profit from their expansion, like Edison, Sempra, and PG&E, to build data centers in LA and statewide while making it harder for local communities to learn about an incoming development and challenge these polluting facilities.”

“Prop 45 would weaken the strongest tool our communities have available to protect ourselves from the worst health impacts before another polluting project is approved next door to our homes,” said Maggie Tsai, with Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action. “It puts corporate developers’ interests above clean air, clean water, clean soil and our health.”

“Why would these developers and for-profit utilities fund this measure?” asked Fernando Gaytan with Earthjustice. “Because if Prop 45 passes, many of these powerful corporations will continue to boost their profits, fast-track projects while hiding the damage they might create, and pass hundreds of millions of costs onto us.”

Prop 45 has attracted opposition from a broad range of more than 500 organizations including Extreme Weather Survivors, the League of Women Voters of California, American Lung Association, Coalition for Clean Air, California Professional Firefighters, and the California Nurses Association.

The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office has concluded that implementing Prop 45 could cost taxpayers $100 million or more per year.

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