PRESS RELEASE
SEN. ELOISE GÓMEZ REYES JOINS SPANISH-LANGUAGE PRESS BRIEFING TO URGE VOTERS TO REJECT PROP. 45
Elected Officials and Local Leaders Warn of Threats to Communities, Public Health and Environmental Protections
SACRAMENTO – State Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes joined local and community leaders for a Spanish-language press briefing urging Californians to vote no on Proposition 45, warning that the 41-page ballot initiative would weaken environmental protections, limit public oversight of polluting projects and put communities already burdened by pollution at greater risk.
The virtual briefing brought together representatives of environmental justice, public health and transportation organizations to discuss the initiative’s potential consequences for Latino communities, working families and residents who rely on California’s environmental laws to help protect their health and neighborhoods.
A full recording of the event, which was largely in Spanish, is available upon request to Press@NoProp45ca.com.
“This attack on state environmental law comes at the worst time, when the Trump Administration is already attacking our clean air, clean water, and public health protections from many angles,” said State Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes. “This is a moment to strengthen our state safeguards, not dismantle them.”
ES: “Este ataque a las leyes ambientales de nuestro estado llega en el peor momento, cuando la administración de Trump ya está atacando las protecciones para el aire limpio, el agua limpia y la salud pública de diferente maneras. Este es el momento de fortalecer las protecciones que tenemos en California, no de desarmarlas.”
Prop 45 would fast-track polluting projects like data centers, CO2 pipelines, freeway widenings, landfill gas facilities, dairy biogas digesters, dams, and forest clearcutting. The measure’s corporate backers, including data center developers, Edison International, Sempra, and PG&E, have poured more than $10 million into the campaign to pass it.
“Let me put this in plain terms: not only would Prop 45 likely cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars just to implement, it saddles working families with unknown costs of cleaning up additional pollution and treating pollution-related illnesses,” said Lynwood City Council Member Juan Muñoz-Guevara. “And those are just the financial costs. Families shouldn’t have to live with the fear, stress and heartbreak of watching pollution take a toll on their loved ones’ health and well-being.”
ES: “Se los pongo en palabras sencillas: la Propuesta 45 les da aun más control a las grandes empresas y deja a nuestras comunidades recogiendo los pedazos y pagando las consecuencias. La Propuesta 45 podría costarles a los contribuyentes cientos de millones de dólares tan solo para ponerla en marcha. Y eso sin contar lo que costaría limpiar la contaminación adicional, atender las enfermedades que provocaría y pagar las facturas médicas que podrían terminar cayendo sobre las familias. Y esos son solo los costos económicos. Ninguna familia debería vivir con el miedo, el estrés y la tristeza de ver cómo la contaminación afecta la salud y el bienestar de sus seres queridos.”
The measure is one of the most controversial of the 14 measures on the November ballot, and has attracted opposition from a broad range of more than 500 organizations including the League of Women Voters of California, American Lung Association, Coalition for Clean Air, California Environmental Justice Alliance, California Professional Firefighters, and the California Nurses Association.
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