California has always been a major player in terms of pollutant production for the world, attributing to roughly 1.4 percent of the entire world’s greenhouse gases and 6.4 percent of the United States by itself. Because of this the government has begun rolling out initiatives to cut back on pollutant production beginning in 2006, with new bills being to be passed at that stage to help cut back drastically on overall vehicle and other emissions in order to provide a healthier, cleaner environment for all residents and visitors.

Unfortunately for many California residents new reports are surfacing of two major US-based oil companies – Tesoro and Valero – funding anti-bill propaganda to try and counter new bills looking to go on ballot soon to further regulate emissions and general oil usage. The bills have served in the past to drastically cut back on smog affecting cities as well as improve general vehicle efficiency requirements for all motor vehicles passing through the state and would serve to limit further market shares of oil companies by decreasing overall user demand. Many of these regulations have subsequently bled over into other states and even other countries in some cases that have adopted similar policies of their own off of California’s successful examples.

Ironically as a positive side effect of many of these attempts to combat California’s many “green” bills over the past few years a number of oil companies have actually contributed to the development of higher fuel efficiency cars in order to show that oil-based vehicles can, indeed, operate with relatively low emissions. The success of these vehicles though has then led to higher regulations requiring them and an overall negative trend for oil developers.

Any concerned citizen that is worried about Tesoro and Valero’s influence in any decision making policies should be sure to contact a local representative at once to ensure that their voice is heard or write to their local government or other support group to express their opinion through the proper channels.

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