Environmentalists Oppose Prop 80

Claiming that Proposition 80 will take Environmental gains in electric conservations back to, say, the 1980's, environmentalists have come out against the measure.

On Thursday, leading opponent V. John White of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology griped that Proposition 80's "well-intentioned" backers want to lock the state into an energy procurement system that unfairly favors big utilities like Edison International's Southern California Edison Co. and could inadvertently hamper drives to increase power generation from renewable sources.

"At a time when we are not making good enough progress on buying and investing in the energy we need, enacting a confusing and duplicative initiative will add to the uncertainty and risk when we don't need it," White said.

Proposition 80 does nothing to push the state's three investor-owned utilities — Edison, PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas & Electric Co. — into signing more long-term contracts to guarantee they will have enough power to meet peak summer demand, White said.