Nov. 8, 2006 – Californians voted down a proposition that would have imposed a tax on oil companies drilling in the state.
Fifty-four percent of voters rejected the initiative.
As previously reported by The NewStandard, Proposition 87 would have channeled $4 billion raised from oil taxes into a program designed to reduce residents? dependence on oil by building more solar panels, ethanol fueling stations and other technologies. The tax would have also funded alternative-energy development.
According to the Associated Press, oil companies spent more than $100 million campaigning against the initiative, while a coalition of environmental organizations, Democratic groups and Hollywood producers spent $57 million.
