State officials and the mainstream media depicted the passage of Governor Jerry Brown’s cap-and-trade bill last month as a “historic climate victory,” but over 65 environmental justice, conservation and public interest organizations slammed the bill because of the devastating impact it will have on front line communities, the people of California and our air and water.

The lobbying expenses by the oil industry in the second quarter of 2017 revealed how urgent the industry felt it was to pass AB 398, legislation based on a Big Oil wish list, that will extend California’s controversial cap-and-trade system beyond 2020.