Al Gore: "Planetary Emergency!"

Urges support of Proposition 87

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. File photo (6/5/5)
Photo(s) by Luke Thomas

By Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News Service

October 28, 2006

BERKELEY (BCN) - Former Vice President Al Gore said this week that a state proposition that would raise taxes on oil extracted from California, by up to 6 percent, is needed because the world is facing a climate crisis that's "a full-scale planetary emergency."

Speaking to more than 500 people at a park near the Berkeley City Hall at a rally supporting Proposition 87, Gore said, "Our planet has a fever and it's not going away. It will get worse until you do something about it." Gore said, "This climate crisis is like nothing else we have faced."

Gore didn't talk about the specifics of Prop 87, which is on the Nov. 7 ballot, but supporters say it would establish a $4 billion program to reduce petroleum consumption through incentive for alternative energy, education and training.

Supporters say it would reduce California's use of gas and diesel by 25 percent over the next 10 years with cleaner alternatives such as wind, solar and biofuels.

Gore said, "I'm pretty tired of being so dependent on foreign oil," stating that some of the money that goes to buy oil in the Middle East is siphoned off to fund terrorism.

Gore said Californians "can startle the world" and "chart your own course to the future" by passing Prop 87.

The former vice president said, "We can take destiny into our own hands and it starts right here in California when you pass Proposition 87."

Opponents of Prop 87 say higher taxes on domestic oil will result in more dependence on foreign oil.

In their ballot argument, they say, "Economists report that taxing California production will reduce in-state oil production and increase our dependence on foreign oil. Oil from the Middle East and other countries costs more to get here and costs more to refine once here."

The Yes on 87 campaign is supported by former President Bill Clinton and several Nobel Prize laureates.

####