Wave of oil money hits local Calif. climate candidates
Wave of oil money hits local Calif. climate candidates
Adam Aton, E&E News reporter Climatewire: Monday, March 2, 2020
OXNARD, Calif. — The oil industry has turned an epicenter of climate change into one of its first 2020 battlegrounds. And the election it's targeting isn't for president, Congress or even the California Statehouse. It's more local than that.
Ventura County, California's fastest-warming county and one of its top oil producers, is voting tomorrow for three of the five seats on its county Board of Supervisors. With the power to deny oil permits, a majority on the board would give climate hawks a powerful weapon to use against one of the region's heavyweight players. Greens have notched some wins recently — but now the industry is fighting back.
One oil company, California Resources Corp., a spinoff from Occidental Petroleum Corp., already has spent more than $800,000 — more than the opposing candidates have raised combined. That has reshaped an election where 50-cent mailers are normally big-ticket items. This year, the oil-aligned candidates even have had ads air on cable news.
"They've spent so much money. I mean, we're a little town. I see my face on CNN and MSNBC talking about what a corrupt politician I am," said Oxnard Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Ramírez, who's running for the county board with environmentalist backing.... Ventura is also the fastest-warming county in the lower 48 states, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Its temperatures have risen by an average of 2.6 degrees Celsius...
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