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In 2006 California’s Senate Bill 107 codified a requirement that by 2010 all electricity retailers in the state were to procure 20% of their electricity from “renewables.” That same year L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich established Nuisance Abatement Teams that started combing the Mojave desert hitting isolated residents with ever-expanding lists of code violations, imposing whatever it took to drive residents out, and they made their intentions perfectly clear . . . . . . Apparently it is not enough that our green crony capitalists are getting billions in taxpayer subsidies, or that that rate-payers are forced to buy their...

Hours after Gov. Jerry Brown issued a spirited attack on politicians who doubt the significance of climate change, Brown's predecessor -- former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- praised Brown but urged a spirit of inclusiveness. "To me, it made no difference if a Democrat had a great idea or a Republican had a great idea, or if someone from the outside had a great idea, or if someone from within the office had a great idea," Schwarzenegger said this afternoon at Brown's conference on climate change at the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. "The more inclusive you are about...

When President Barack Obama announced an agreement to double fuel-economy requirements Friday, standing with him were industry executives and environmental, public health and labor leaders, all of whom, remarkably, had signed off on the deal. But the real credit for this historic achievement, which is expected to cut oil consumption by 1.5 million barrels per day and eliminate half of all carbon pollution nationwide, doesn't go to the White House. Instead, thank California. For decades the state has set the nation's clean-energy agenda; it's been the tip of the spear in the fight for higher fuel standards. Its huge automobile...

California and five other states are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to let them sue power companies whose plants emit greenhouse gases, saying legal action is needed as a backup for the Obama administration's embattled efforts to curb pollution that contributes to global warming. The case, to be argued April 19, pits the states and environmental organizations against an unusual alliance: the energy industry, which opposes the emissions limits, and the Obama administration, which says such restrictions should be imposed by Congress and federal agencies, not the courts. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue regulations in May 2012 that...

California's sweeping plan to institute cap and trade and regulate "greenhouse gases" has been thrown out by a San Francisco judge. SFGate.com reports: The California Air Resources Board violated state environmental law in 2008 when it adopted a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases and again last year when it passed cap-and-trade regulations, a San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled in a tentative decision. [snip] In his decision, Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith ruled that the air board approved the larger plan to implement AB32 prior to completing the required environmental review, and that the board failed to adequately consider alternatives to cap and...

A month before the historic recall that drove Gov. Gray Davis from office in 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a TV commercial making a promise to the voters of California."Here's my plan," he said. "Audit everything, open the books, and then we end the crazy deficit spending. "... If you're happy with the way things are, keep your current leaders. If you want to change this state, then join me."Voters joined in droves. But as he prepares to leave office seven years later, Schwarzenegger's promises are a distant echo.He leaves a legacy of landmark environmental laws, public works spending and...

Schwarzenegger, who counts legislation combating global warming as one of his signature achievements in office, suggested he might be interested in a post dealing with energy or the environment. "I'm a big believer in environmental issues," Schwarzenegger said, who added that he wanted a post where he could use his "celebrity power … knowledge and experience" to impact public policy. "I've traveled the world. … I'm very familiar with the world."

MR. BLUMENFELD: So today we recognize this person for an extraordinary vision and leadership as an early, ardent and articulate champion in the defense of our planet against global climate change. This person had a great team. I want to recognize Terry Tamminen and Linda Adams, who are both here, who really -- you can't do this stuff alone when you're sitting -- (Applause) And the job at the top is lonely and so when you surround yourselves by people you want to have people that free you up to take action and those are the type of people that...

He has been, in many ways, a governor of firsts:• The first to take office as a result of a recall election.• The first to commute, on an almost daily basis and via private jet, between the Capitol and his Southern California mansion. • The first to have served in the Austrian army, the first to have won the Mr. Olympia body-building title seven times, and - as far as we know - the first California chief executive to have nude photos of himself widely available on the World Wide Web.But "first" does not necessarily mean "great," or even "good."And...

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, there were 30 clean-tech companies in the Sacramento region. Today, there are more than 100 such companies in the area employing thousands of workers. With weeks remaining in Schwarzenegger's administration, the fledgling green economy in Sacramento and the rest of California owes a debt to Schwarzenegger's stewardship of the state's climate-change law and his administration's policies, clean-tech advocates say. "(Gov. Schwarzenegger) helped to spark a clean-energy revolution in our state and ignite a national dialogue about the importance of climate change legislation," said state Sen. Fran Pavley,...

Encouraged by what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called clean energy's "greatest referendum in history," California officials are pushing ahead with a new greenhouse gas accord with developing foreign countries. Schwarzenegger today launched the third Governors' Global Climate summit at the University of California, Davis, saying this month's landslide defeat of Proposition 23, an oil industry backed initiative to roll back the state's landmark climate change law, shows broad support among voters for climate change initiatives. "I hope that our success encourages you to fight and keep fighting and fighting because science is on our side, the economics is on our side...

Public carbon trading dead in the USA Posted on November 8, 2010 by Anthony Watts Gore’s grand experiment has flatlined. As we reported almost two weeks ago, the Gore and Pachauri advised Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX) has closed. Closing price? A nickel per ton of CO2.Here’s the final day closing page for posterity:A 16 lb bag of charcoal briquettes is worth more than a ton of CO2. About 220x more. Here’s more on the story:Carbon Trade Ends on Quiet Death of Chicago Climate ExchangeBy John O’SullivanRepublican mid-term election joy deals financial uncertainty among green investors as the Chicago Climate Exchange announces...

There’s more to Schwarzenegger than Skolkovo – California’s out-going governor is already preparing for life after office with a drive to promote the environment. And in Moscow’s Higher School of Economics he outlined his ideas on energy efficiency to students, highlighting the green legacy of his regime in the US. California’s dreams come true Schwarzenegger said at the conference that California is becoming a world leader in energy efficiency and environmental programmes. “We have built hydrogen fueling stations along the roads. We promote renewable energy. We passed legislation AB32, whereby we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent...

SANTA CLARA, CA (KGO) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is blasting the backers of an effort to suspend the state's landmark global warming legislation that signed it into law four years ago. California's global warming law AB32 is a big part of Schwarzenegger's legacy. He is campaigning to stop Proposition 23, the November ballot measure that would suspend AB32. The governor told the Commonwealth Club audience that oil companies Valero and Tesoro are spending millions to promote Prop 23 with a bogus jobs argument. "Does anyone really believe that these companies out of the goodness of their black oil hearts are...

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday announced the start of a new website intended to help Californians find jobs in green industries. The website, called Clean Energy Jobs, provides resources to promote jobs in areas such as recycling, clean transportation and renewable energy. The website lists 48 programs that provide training for green jobs, offered through organizations such as community colleges, local workforce investment boards and private industries. In a written statement, the governor said the website's purpose is to highlight "how the state's community colleges and workforce investment boards, labor unions, and employers are working to meet the demand...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed Natural Resources Defense Council western director Felicia Marcus to the Delta Stewardship Council. The seven-member panel, created as part of the 2009 water policy package, is tasked with crafting and implementing a plan for the future management of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Marcus, a former EPA administrator and Los Angeles Board of Public Works commissioner, replaces another Schwarzenegger pick, Richard Roos-Collins. Roos-Collins, an attorney for the Natural Heritage Institute, resigned earlier this month after his nomination was opposed by environmental groups.

The state's landmark global warming law has yet to create the promised bonanza of green jobs, but it has boosted payrolls in another sector of the economy: state government. At a time of budget cuts and state worker furloughs, the state agency primarily responsible for regulating global warming has bulked up its staff as it prepares to enforce AB 32, the climate change law signed in 2006 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since 2007, the California Air Resources Board has added more than 150 employees, an increase of 12.5 percent. The additions include dozens of scientists, engineers, technicians and other air...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the state’s air-quality enforcers to postpone a rule to require 33 percent of the power used by utilities to come from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. Schwarzenegger asked the Air Resources Board to delay until September its adoption of the new regulation, which had been expected this month. The Republican governor said he made the request because of “ongoing discussions with legislative leaders to develop a bill that I can sign.” If those negotiations don’t prove fruitful, the ARB “will be ready and able to adopt the regulations at that time (in...

The governor proposes that a train be set up by November, before he leaves office, to give commuters a taste of European-style fast rail travel. Skeptics say extensive upgrades must first be made.It could be years before sections of the planned California high-speed rail project can be completed. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't want to wait that long to give the state a taste of the European-style system. The governor has proposed to the federal government that a demonstration project be set up on the rail link between San Diego and Los Angeles, one of the busiest commuter corridors in...

Leadership: Alaska's ex-governor asks a question we'd like answered: Why is California's current governor pushing the same policies in Copenhagen that helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? The movie series that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name involved cyborgs traveling through time to alternately try to destroy or save one John Connor, who would grow up to be the leader of the resistance against a race of machines that ruled the planet. Prominent in the series was his tough cookie of a mom, Sarah Connor. Another Sarah has taken the lead in another resistance against another group...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to put his star power to work for President Barack Obama on the environment when his own term ends next year, the former movie actor said on Thursday. Republican Schwarzenegger is arguably the biggest environmentalist in his party and razzed Washington, which is struggling to pass climate change legislation and prepare for international talks, for wrangling with other countries over global warming goals rather than setting an example. "Did we say China, you go first with human rights, and we will follow you? No. We led," he said in an...

A measure that would require utilities to receive one-third of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020 passed off the Senate floor Tuesday with the bare minimum of 21 votes. The bill, SB 14 by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-San Jose, has been tagged as a top priority for Senate leader Darrel Steinberg. The bill’s passage was the first major policy decision in which Steinberg muscled a proposal out of his house, despite reservations from many within his own party. When Steinberg took the leadership gavel in December, he noted three top legislative priorities that could give the Legislature “a...

In his latest effort to combat global warming, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to enlist the state's troubled youth. The governor today announced the new California Green Corps., a statewide effort to train at-risk young adults between 16 and 24 years old for jobs in the state's fledgling green tech industry. "It's the kind of program that President Obama envisioned when he put together the economic stimulus package. It's all about jobs, jobs, jobs," Schwarzenegger said after touring a solar installation certificate program at American River College, a community college in Sacramento. The program will be administered by Schwarzenegger's volunteerism czar...

A wise investor puts her money in investments that offer the highest returns at the lowest cost. A poor investor puts his money in investments that offer low returns at a higher cost. I don't know what you'd call an investor who puts lots of money into "investments" that offer no benefits, but "Schwarzenegger" might be a good label. The Governor's pledge to lower greenhouse gas emissions in California to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 will bring Californians little or no environmental benefit, while costing the citizenry a substantial amount of money. The Governor has long pandered to...

When times are tough and money is scarce, it is the duty of locally elected leaders to ask tough questions about government programs. No program should be exempt from this scrutiny, including Assembly Bill 32 (the Global Warming Solutions Act), which is one of the largest regulatory schemes ever approved by the state of California. AB 32 will impact every citizen directly in the form of higher prices for gasoline and increased utility costs. Virtually every product and service we purchase will be impacted as businesses pass along their increased costs to consumers. With many scientists believing that the release...

I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona) and several Canadian provinces along the western rim of North America, proposes to combat global warming – independently from their national governments. Herein lays the first reason I oppose the WCI: with the likelihood of federal pre-emption with President Obama and the 111th Congress set...

SACRAMENTO — Even during this deep recession, California's air-quality regulators are on an accelerated schedule to adopt a series of global warming initiatives considered unmatched worldwide. Their aggressive push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming will eventually touch everyday life in both small and significant ways. Just Thursday, the state Air Resources Board moved to regulate fluorinated gases commonly used by the Silicon Valley-centered semiconductor industry to make chips used in cell phones and computers. A few weeks earlier, do-it-yourself mechanics were the target. Regulators adopted tighter rules on small cans of refrigerants that recharge vehicle air...

Tom McClintock may have barely squeaked out a win in a congressional district where Republicans hold a 15-point voter registration advantage. But he is clearly savoring his new speech-making perch in Congress. McClintock, of Northern California's 4th Congressional District, is aggressively attacking Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on global warming. And the man who loves to quote historic figures from Churchill to Jefferson is now quoting himself to take on President Barack Obama's economic agenda. On Schwarzennegger, McClintock arose to demand that the federal government hold firm against California's efforts to impose stricter emissions standards for automobiles. "I rise to urge...

JANUARY 31, 2009 California's 'Green Jobs' Experiment Isn't Going Well By STEPHEN MOORE Los Angeles Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was all smiles in 2006 when he signed into law the toughest anti-global-warming regulations of any state. Mr. Schwarzenegger and his green supporters boasted that the regulations would steer California into a prosperous era of green jobs, renewable energy, and technological leadership. Instead, since 2007 -- in anticipation of the new mandates -- California has led the nation in job losses. The regulations created a cap-and-trade system, similar to proposed federal global-warming measures, by limiting the CO2 that utilities, trucking companies and...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told UN delegates locked in climate talks on Monday that the world economic crisis should not slow down the fight against global warming. "There are some people who say that we can't afford the fight against global warming while our economies are down, but the exact opposite is true," he told some 10,000 delegates in Poznan, Poland in a video message. "The green rules and regulations that will help save our planet will also revive our economies," he said. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is charged with hammering out for a new...

Noted scientist, Arnold Schwarzenegger, cast his eye over the political landscape and wagged his finger at the Bush administration. Schwarzenegger, governor of California, said the decision to delay a decision on regulations affecting greenhouse gases showed it did not believe in global warming. The Bush Administration's refusal to guzzle some of Arnold's global warming Kool-Aid upset the Left Coast governor. The Last Action Hero decided a lecture was the solution. Schwartzenegger might not have realized he was also lecturing a majority of Americans for being nonbelievers. According to Pew Research Center: Americans generally agree that the earth is getting warmer,...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'd say yes if Barack Obama is elected president and offers him a position in his administration. "I'm always ready to help in any way I can the United States," Schwarzenegger said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "Because as you know, I've committed myself to be a public servant, because this country has given me everything. And so this is my time now." Schwarzenegger has endorsed fellow Republican John McCain for president, but he said he'd "take [Obama's] call now and I'd take his call when he's president, anytime. Remember, no matter who is president,...

Schwarzenegger: I'd be Obama energy czar By MIKE ALLEN | 7/13/08 10:23 AM EST California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in an interview aired Sunday that he would be open to the idea of serving as energy czar in a Barack Obama administration. Regardless of whether he takes that particular job, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, added on ABC’s “This Week” that he’s now committed to continuing public service even after he leaves Sacramento. Schwarzenegger endorsed John McCain at the end of January, and McCain has appeared with “the Governator” to praise his efforts to deal with climate change. A Schwarzenegger appointment would...

Last March, we received word that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was offsetting his jet travel demands by purchasing green credits. The cost of Schwarzenegger’s travel was to be “annually invested” in sustainable forest management projects. At that time, it was reported that the Governor was flying twice-weekly from his office in Sacramento, CA to his mansion in Brentwood, CA. We firmly believed then that the offsetting was, at best, a band-aid for a habit that in one hour would do more damage to the environment than a small car could inflict over the course of one year. Now, the LA Times...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Sunday the Bush administration did not believe it should do anything about global warming and that any last-minute action before leaving office would be "bogus." Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose state has pushed unsuccessfully for federal permission to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, said on ABC's "This Week" that any move at this point against climate change would lack sincerity. "If they would have done something this year, I would have thought it was bogus anyway," he said. "You don't really have an effect by doing something six months before you...

ABC News' Mary Bruce Reports: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., spoke out against President Bush this morning attacking his administration for its failure to counter global warming emissions. "This administration did not believe in global warming," Schwarzenegger told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that will air Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "They just didn't believe in it or they didn't believe that they should do anything about it, since China is not doing anything about it and since India is not willing to do the same thing, so why should we do the same thing?" Schwarzenegger said. "We...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- California is making it mandatory for cars to be labeled with global warming scores, figures that take into account emissions from vehicle use and fuel production.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has risked accusations of green hypocrisy by driving around in a gas-guzzling Dodge Challenger Coupe. The Hollywood star-turned Californian governor has built a reputation as a leading green campaigner and last Friday told a climate-change meeting in Florida: "America is so addicted to oil it will take us years to wean ourselves from it, and to look for new ways to feed our addiction is not the answer." In an interview last year, the governor spoke of his wish to create "a whole new industry of clean cars and clean engines and components to build those engines." To...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, appearing in a taped interview Sunday on "Meet the Press," defended GOP presidential candidate John McCain as "the real deal on the environment". "I'm very proud of him. I'm 100 percent behind him," he told Tom Brokaw. Schwarzenegger acknowledged that he doesn't support everything McCain has proposed, just as he isn't always in accord with his wife, Maria Shriver, a Democrat who has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. "That (McCain and I) don't agree on everything, it's clear. Nor do I agree with my wife," he said. But "he's terrific with the environment," and with a President...

MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday that politicians who suggest that lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling would ease rising fuel prices in the United States were "blowing smoke." The comments were seen by the U.S. media as a slap at Republican leaders including President George W. Bush and the party's presumptive presidential nominee John McCain, who have recently spoken in favor of more offshore drilling as America tries to wean itself from its dependence on foreign oil. A spokesman for the governor, however, said the comments were not directed at McCain, nor at...

The governor's office said Schwarzenegger would skip a planned address to the 47th annual Capital Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday. Instead, he will appear with Republican presidential hopeful John McCain at an environmentally-themed campaign event in Santa Barbara. Organizers believe it is the first time a sitting governor has declined to address the annual gathering, although there is no official record. State Assemblyman Rick Keene has organized the breakfast for the past three years. A spokesman for the Chico Republican, Evan Oneto, said Keene was saddened when he learned the governor would be a no-show. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the...

Dulles, Virginia -- Bowing before the politically correct lords of the environmental movement, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared this week that when it comes to the issue of climate change, “America has to lead, and [California is] doing so with or without Washington.” Schwarzenegger was explaining his decision to ratify a two-year environmental alliance between the state of California and the People’s Republic of China under the supervision of the United Nations. Frustrated with the Bush administration’s reluctance to embrace a global climate treaty that would place caps on greenhouse gas emissions, Schwarzenegger engaged the UN and China by making...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's near-and-dear fight to make the state greener is adding a lot of new jobs to the state's already-in-the-red payroll. The governor's latest budget proposal calls for no fewer than 211 greenhouse-gas busters to be sprinkled throughout state government, at an annual cost of $55.4 million. That's 77 more greenies than are on the payroll this year. The new jobs range from $36,000-a-year accounting technicians to $102,000-a-year attorneys to draft and enforce green regulations. Fully half the money and three-fourths of the jobs would go to the California Air Resources Board, the agency charged with monitoring pollution and...

The federal government is "asleep at the wheel," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Friday. The Republican governor was talking about the fight between the Golden State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which denied a waiver that would have allowed the state to enforce a law requiring lower greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles (see Will U.S. Policy Drive Green-Car Tech Away?). "They don’t get it," he said. While climate-change-fighting activities are happening around the world, he said, the U.S. government has yet to enact national climate-change legislation. "They’ve really failed in coming up...

Santa Barbara, California - Participating in a conference of green-tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate executives and environmental and business journalists, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger again today explained how California's environmental policies and focus on booming clean- and green-tech industries will help the state weather a slowed-down economy. He spoke about California's wave of growth in the green technology industry during a conversation at the Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics Conference in Santa Barbara. "California's environmental policies are driving a whole new industrial revolution in our state that is opening up huge opportunities for California companies to grow and strengthening our economy at...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once joked that Sacramento was "death," apparently doesn't want to spend many nights in the graveyard. As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, the governor has been spending nearly every night in his Brentwood mansion, shuttling between Sacramento and Southern California in his private jet. The governor uses his own money to pay for his Gulfstream flights, which price out at about $10,000 an hour, the Times reports. And what about the cost to the environment? The governor's staff says he purchases "carbon credits." Such credits are aimed at offsetting the greenhouse gases generated by...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once joked that Sacramento was "death," apparently doesn't want to spend many nights in the graveyard. As the Los Angeles Times reported last week, the governor has been spending nearly every night in his Brentwood mansion, shuttling between Sacramento and Southern California in his private jet. The governor uses his own money to pay for his Gulfstream flights, which price out at about $10,000 an hour, the Times reports. And what about the cost to the environment? The governor's staff says he purchases "carbon credits."

California's landmark legislation to fight global warming has been on the books for more than a year, but it still lacks stable, long-term funding to help meet its ambitious goal to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal calls for a stopgap, two-year effort that relies on borrowing money from a state beverage container recycling fund to run the program. On Monday, members of a joint legislative committee raised questions about funding for AB32, the high-profile measure that seeks to cut the state's carbon emissions by about a third by 2020. "Borrowing from (the recycling fund) ......

(CNN) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sue the federal government over its decision not to allow a California plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he announced Thursday. Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson announced the decision Wednesday, refusing the state's request for a waiver that would have allowed it to cut emissions faster than a new federal plan the president signed into law Wednesday. "It's another example of the administration's failure to treat global warming with the seriousness that it actually demands," the governor said at a news conference Thursday. Bush on Thursday defended the decision of his...

Jerry Brown may have invented the so-called "canoe theory" of politics (paddle a little left, paddle a little right, end up in the center) but Arnold Schwarzenegger has probably come the closest to perfecting it. And this morning the two most recognizable faces in California government looked all the world like BFFs -- best (environmental) friends forever. The attorney general and the governor were there to announce the long-expected filing of a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for inaction on California's request to regulate auto emissions. For almost two years, the agency has been sitting on California's request...