Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorsed Proposition 87 because it will reduce our dangerous dependence on oil.

“Oil is imported from unstable regions and causes asthma, lung disease and cancer,” Mayor Villaraigosa said.  “Your kids and my kids deserve a cleaner city and a cleaner state.”

Half of California’s imported oil comes from the Middle East.

California has the worst air quality in the nation, according to the EPA.  By the age of two months, Los Angeles-area infants have inhaled enough toxic pollutants to reach the EPA’s lifetime limit for cancer risk.  Asthma causes 3.3 million school absences each year.

California is dependent on oil, which causes environmental, economic and national security problems.  California has the nation’s worst air quality; the nation’s-highest gas prices; and we’re forced to import oil from unstable nations. Proposition 87 reduces our dependence on oil with domestic energy sources like biofuels, wind and solar.

By reducing our dependence on oil, Proposition 87 reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  California uses 16 billion gallons of petroleum every year - an amount 15% more than China uses.  Proposition 87 will reduce California's petroleum consumption by 10 billion gallons from 2007 to 2017, with a 4 billion gallon reduction in 2017 alone.  That will cut 350 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from California's air.  California is the nation's largest user of oil and the world's sixth-largest economy.  Proposition 87 will make cleaner, cheaper alternative fuels and vehicles accessible and affordable nationwide.

Mayor Villaraigosa has championed cleaner air for Los Angeles by mandating that the Department of Water and Power generate 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and by reducing diesel emissions at our ports, which are the largest air polluter in Southern California.  

President Bill Clinton leads a growing coalition backing Proposition 87 that includes Senator Dianne Feinstein, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, the American Lung Association of California, the Coalition for Clean Air, Americans for Energy Independence, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, businesses, Nobel Prize laureates and other leading environmental, local government and public health organizations.  

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