With oil prices well off their peak and California mired in financial woes, California’s Prop 10 (or California Alternative Fuels Initiative) which would have provided incentives for purchasers of alternative fuel vehicles, research for development of solar and other renewable energies and training for green collar jobs was defeated by a wide margin. 

Many have come to know it has the key for T Boone’s “Pickens Plan” because it calls for much greater use of natural gas as auto fuel, but opponents say the plan was really just a plan to line the pockets of Pickens through his company Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) which stood to benefit big.

“This has proved that one special interest, no matter how rich it is, can’t hoodwink Californians into passing a measure that just lines that interest’s pockets,” said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California.

Shares of Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) are off the lows of the day but still down more than 15% on the news.