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Letters to the Editor: How the Dodgers can be wildfire heroes: Stop shilling for fossil fuels

An advertisement for 76 gasoline is seen on the wall during a game at Dodger Stadium on July 25, 2024.
An advertisement for 76 gasoline is seen on the wall during a game at Dodger Stadium on July 25, 2024.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: I spit out my coffee reading that Gov. Gavin Newsom has tapped Mark Walter and Magic Johnson, both part of the Dodgers ownership group, to help lead a new fire recovery effort.

Walter, his foundation and the L.A. Dodgers Foundation reportedly will provide up to $100 million to jump-start fundraising for this push. No shade on that. But everybody has it backward.

This bunch — meaning Dodgers ownership — is shilling for an oil giant, Phillips 66, that is contributing to the climate change that worsened one of the costliest disasters in modern U.S. history.

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Phillips 66 owns the 76 gas brand, whose logo is plastered all over Dodger Stadium. It’s an egregious act of greenwashing for a deadly fossil fuel.

As much as Los Angeles appreciates the generosity, the Dodgers organization needs to stop endorsing a contributor to the cause of the disaster it is now helping to mop up. It’s hypocritical in the extreme and positions the Dodgers as party to factors making our fires so extreme.

The Dodgers need to drop the Phillips 66 sponsorship now. L.A. is watching while it grieves.

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Paul Scott, Santa Monica

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