Californians divided over fracking, climate change revenue
In the midst of California's ongoing economic recovery, a new survey finds that residents are unsure about fracking and the effect of the state's climate change law AB 32.
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| San Francisco. Credit: D'Arcy Norman, Calgary, Canada /Wikimedia Commons |
The Hoover Institution at Stanford University surveyed 1,000 California voters and found that Californians are evenly split over the potential economic benefits and environmental harm of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." According to the Hoover Institution Golden State Poll, 38 percent see hydraulic fracturing as positive, 40 percent negative, and 22 percent are unsure.
AB 32, a much debated law which attempts to address climate change by egulating greenhouse gas emissions and requires that California return to 1990 emissions levels by 2020. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has adopted various measures to meet AB 32's target, including the regulation of power plants, industrial facilities, and fuel distributors. Another reduction measure requires that transportation fuels sold in California emit less greenhouse gas.
When it comes to state revenues generated by AB 32, most Californians (42 percent) want the money refunded to taxpayers. That's roughly twice the number of respondents who want the money directed to energy-efficiency/renewable energy tech (18 percent) or state general expenditures, such as education or health care (18 percent), and more than six times (7 percent) those who would like those funds spent on the state's high-speed rail project.
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