Free Republic

It was two weeks ago, that Al Gore challenged Americans to "move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes" by jumping on his alternative energy bandwagon. In a much-hyped speech July 17, the former vice president urged the nation "to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years." Gore acknowledged that achieving his ambitious goal would be difficult: "To be sure, reaching the goal of 100 percent renewable and truly clean electricity within...

Santa Barbara, California - Participating in a conference of green-tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate executives and environmental and business journalists, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger again today explained how California's environmental policies and focus on booming clean- and green-tech industries will help the state weather a slowed-down economy. He spoke about California's wave of growth in the green technology industry during a conversation at the Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics Conference in Santa Barbara. "California's environmental policies are driving a whole new industrial revolution in our state that is opening up huge opportunities for California companies to grow and strengthening our economy at...

Some of the world's wealthiest are going green, spending their own greenbacks to protect the environment and fight global warming. In honor of the 37th annual Earth Day this Sunday, we are highlighting our picks for the 11 greenest billionaires. These moguls have made significant commitments to the environment, whether through investment in technology, commitment to earth-friendly living or simply by raising the world's environmental awareness. Among the green billionaires are high-profile folks like Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT) co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Gates' investment firm invested $84 million in California's Pacific Ethanol (nasdaq: PEIX), which makes ethanol from corn;...

Silicon Valley’s technology investors have taken to the ramparts, threatening to tear down the oil and gas industries’ dominance with innovations that use ethanol, solar and wind. A chief champion of the cause has been Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the marquee venture capital firms. Its principals, John Doerr in particular, have passionately advocated development of alternative energies as a way to create energy independence and clean up the carbon-saturated atmosphere. But Kleiner has also poured millions of dollars into Terralliance, a company that makes technology to enable more efficient drilling of oil and gas. The investment underscores...

If David and Goliath were alive today, they would likely take time out from their battle to cast a ballot against Proposition 88. So, too, would the feuding Hatfields and McCoys. Such is the diversity and unanimity of opposition to this ill-conceived tax increase. Proposition 88 on the November ballot will raise property taxes. This tax would be imposed by the state and would be in addition to any fees, assessments, bonds and the local property tax regulated by Proposition 13 that homeowners already pay. Considering that 10 million property owners would face higher property taxes if Proposition 88 passes,...

The principal financial backer of a statewide parcel tax initiative has apparently stopped funding the drive, leaving supporters without the kind of cash, staff and ads typically needed for a full-fledged campaign. Political consultant Rick Claussen said he has advised Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to "let go" of Proposition 88, which would establish a $50 parcel tax on all property for public school funding. "Because of the anti-tax sentiments right now, we took a look at the measure and felt it was better to let go of this one and regroup and decide where we might go in the future,"...

A magazine news article warned of the impending doom of climate change: "There are ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production, with serious political implications for every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now. ... The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it." You might be surprised that this gloomy scenario refers to global cooling, and comes...

SACRAMENTO – Californians could eventually see subtle and dramatic innovations in grocery stores, new-car showrooms and kitchens if Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and leading Democrats agree on legislation aimed at slowing global warming. Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs say a commitment from the state to regulate greenhouse gases would send a confidence-building signal to the marketplace, spurring a clean-tech revolution on par with the surge in high-tech and biotech that has helped drive California's economy. Bill's highlightsKey elements of global warming measure AB 32: • Requires businesses to roll back carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a potential 25...

SACRAMENTO - A hotly contested bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California would spur a wave of new clean-energy technology, prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr predicted Wednesday. Entrepreneurs ``are going to go out and compete and innovate to bring enormous solutions to the market'' if the bill passes, Doerr, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said at a news conference at the Capitol. He was joined by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, and executives from several alternative-energy companies. Assembly Bill 32, sponsored by Núñez and Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Woodland Hills, would mandate cuts in...

Backers of a measure that would hit energy companies drilling in California with $4 billion in new taxes planned to start running a hard-hitting TV ad across the state today urging voters to "make oil companies pay.'' There's nothing subtle about the new ad, said Paul Begala, a consultant for Proposition 87. "We're not shy; our most important goal is to get California off its dependence on oil,'' said Begala, a former Clinton White House aide and CNN television commentator. "If you want support, you have to build support.'' Prop. 87 would tax companies for oil pumped in California, based...

SACRAMENTO - Every property owner in California, no matter how big or small or valuable the parcel, faces paying a flat $50 tax to fund schools under a measure voters will be asked to approve in November. Although it's still early in the election season, the move already is generating criticism from taxpayer groups and property owners who say it's a regressive tax and adds to the burden on average citizens who are already overtaxed. Proponents of Proposition 88 - authored by EdVoice, a coalition that includes backing from such wealthy philanthropists as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Silicon Valley investor...

In California politics, Silicon Valley executives used to be considered newbies, nerds or simply multimillionaires with too much time and money on their hands. No longer. Emboldened over the past decade by some success passing ballot propositions, a handful of the valley's most influential power brokers are once again aiming to use the initiative process to put their stamp on public policy in California. Two of the boldest electoral initiatives yet to emerge from valley interests will be on November's ballot: NetFlix founder Reed Hastings and Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist John Doerr are backing Proposition 88, an unprecedented statewide real...

Though more local school bonds are passing, voter support for these measures is in decline. This seeming contradiction can be understood by looking at the impact of Proposition 39 passed by voters in 2000. That year, a small group of multimillionaires and billionaires, most from the Silicon Valley, spent more than $60 million on a campaign to lower the vote threshold for the passage of local school bonds that only property owners are obligated to repay. The two-thirds vote for local bonds was established in the California Constitution of 1879 in recognition of the fact that not everyone who voted...

The Proposition 87 campaign is shaping up into a big bucks battle between big oil companies and "no oil" investors and environmentalists. Chevron and other major energy producers are fueling the drive to defeat the November ballot measure that would impose a severance tax on California oil production to pay for alternative energy. Venture capitalists with multimillion-dollar investments in "greentech," meanwhile, have joined forces with environmentalists to finance the campaign to create the $4 billion fund for alternative energy. Proposition 87 would impose a tax on California oil producers of 1.5 percent to 6 percent, depending on the per-barrel price...

** The "Clean Energy" initiative, Proposition 87, on California's November ballot is looking good. The support level for it in a private poll is over 60 percent. The measure would enact an oil extraction tax at the wellhead to generate some $400 million a year for research and development on alternative fuels. Among the nation's big oil producing states, California is the only one without an oil tax. Voter disdain for oil companies is high.

California voters will be asked whether they want to raise property taxes by $50 per parcel under an initiative that qualified Friday for the November ballot. The measure would generate about $500 million a year by taxing commercial and residential property. Elderly and disabled people would be exempt. The money could be used only for specific purposes, such as reducing class sizes, buying textbooks and improving school safety. The measure is being funded by two Silicon Valley executives. Reed Hastings, the Netflix founder who was once a member of the state board of education, has given nearly $7 million to...

Business and Labor Leaders Call on President to Halt Recall Effort Five prominent business and labor leaders called on President Bush to stop the Republican-led effort to recall Democratic Governor Gray Davis. The bipartisan group made the plea in an opinion piece published in Sunday's Los Angeles Times. The signers included Los Angeles developer and investor Eli Broad, Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, investment firm chairman Warren Hellman, California Federation of Labor head Art Pulaski and Arthur Rock, one of the founders of Intel. The Times piece contended that the recall effort threatens to plunge a state already...

SAN FRANCISCO - Venture capitalist John Doerr made his name and fortune with early investments in Netscape Communications Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and other pioneering tech firms that went from scrappy startups to household names. Now Doerr and his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, are placing big bets on an emerging sector he calls "green technology," one he believes could become as lucrative as information technology and biotechnology. Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins plans to set aside $100 million of its latest $600 million fund for technologies that help provide cleaner energy, transportation, air and water. That's on top...

When it comes to global warming, making promises is easy. Keeping them is hard, California is learning. Six months ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made international news when he committed the state to meeting strict targets reducing greenhouse gases as a way to fight global warming. A closer look at California's emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists say cause global warming reveals that even under the best scenarios, California will miss Schwarzenegger's targets by a wide margin. According to a new report, the state will miss the goals by at least 21 percent by 2020 unless his administration...

Occidental College President Theodore R. Mitchell, a politically connected education expert credited with reinvigorating his Los Angeles campus over the past six years, said Tuesday that he would step down Sept. 1. Mitchell, 49, is leaving the private liberal arts college to become chief executive of NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco. NewSchools, founded in 1998 by a group including Silicon Valley venture capitalists John Doerr and Brook Byers, has invested $40 million in efforts to improve public education in urban areas. Mitchell said he decided to take the job at NewSchools because "there is a...