There is an oft-repeated myth that efforts toward mitigating climate change or conserving energy/resources are by definition onerous to business.  Reform is characterized as job-killing, profit-killing and worse.

The debate over AB 32, the bill designed to address greenhouse gas emissions and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2006, is a current skirmish in the battle to maintain the status quo by big business.

The imminent installation of the measure has resulted in an initiative on the November ballot, Proposition 23, that seeks to delay implementation of the controversial edict.

Proposition 23 is funded by two Texas oil companies, Tesoro and Valero, and critics say that those sponsors seek only to shore up short term profits, interfere in the politics of another state and to resist "regulation".

The oil companies and their supporters seek maintenance of the status quo vis a vis business, environment, consumption and profit.

However there are other voices speaking about Proposition 23.

The website for Communities United Against the Dirty Energy Proposition states:

"Proposition 23 will hurt low-income communities and people of color first and worst. It will make air pollution worse and jobs more scarce, especially in communities already burdened by too much pollution and poverty. It will kill clean energy alternatives and keep us addicted to oil; low-income families will be hit hardest by the rising cost of fossil fuels."

Business as usual cannot stand.  It's not sustainable.  Short term profit "strategies" at the expense of long term development of new technologies and ethics will portend for a bleak future.

In this case regulating business is appropriate and vital.  No oil company will go under when AB 32 is enacted.  Communities most affected by the current lack of regulation will reap health and economic benefits.

By the way the state's legislative analyst says the implementation of AB 32 will result in "modest" job growth.