Posted on 08/06/2006 3:55:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO
Over the past year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has sought to position himself as a leader on climate change issues.
He outlined a broad program to reduce air pollution during a speech at a United Nations summit a year ago and last week reached a publicity-generating agreement with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Republican governor now faces a dilemma that threatens to undermine his environmental credentials at the same time he is trying appeal to moderate voters as he seeks re-election.
This month, the Democrats who hold a majority in California's Legislature plan to send Schwarzenegger a bill that would create the country's first law capping greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources.
Schwarzenegger is eager to sign a global warming bill before he faces the state's Democratic-leaning electorate in November. But in his effort to appease conservatives, Schwarzenegger has asked for amendments that Democrats and environmentalists have criticized as undermining the bill.
They say some of Schwarzenegger's proposed "safety valves" would severely weaken the bill by indefinitely delaying enforcement of the emission caps.
Schwarzenegger also faces criticism from within his own party for even considering signing the bill. Most of the Legislature's Republicans are upset that he is negotiating with Democrats on an issue that Assembly Republican whip Doug La Malfa calls the "crisis du jour."
"There's such disparate views among scientists about what's going on with the concept of global warming," La Malfa said. "We don't need to go down this path until we have more certainty."
For Schwarzenegger, the bill requires a delicate balancing act. Signing it would help burnish his environmental image but also could alienate the state's business community, a key supporter.
A veto could leave him vulnerable to political attack on a message he's tried to own for more than a year.
"He hopes to have a bill on his desk this year that he can sign, but he wants to make sure it can be in a way that protects the economy and the environment," Schwarzenegger spokesman Darrel Ng said.
In June 2005, Schwarzenegger issued an executive order calling for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010, 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
With Blair last week in Long Beach, the governor called again for action on global warming. The two signed a pact to have California and Britain work together to research cleaner-burning fuels and technologies. They also pledged to establish a system in which polluting industries could buy and sell the right to emit greenhouse gases.
"We know there is global warming, so we should stop it," Schwarzenegger said of the carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that many scientists believe are trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to myriad environmental changes around the globe.
Democrats say they are taking Schwarzenegger's cue and putting his ceremonial orders into law by targeting the state's largest emitters of carbon dioxide, such as power plants, oil refineries and the cement industry. They say caps on those industries, coupled with a 2004 law restricting auto emissions, would achieve the governor's goals.
"What we're looking at is real," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. "The fact of the matter is, the only way we're going to do something and take a leadership role on global warming is by getting other states to use our framework."
But with the end of the session scheduled for Aug. 31, the two sides remain apart over how to implement such caps.
One sticking point described as a deal-breaker by Nunez is an administration proposal for a new board that would oversee implementation of the emission caps.
The board would be composed of agency heads within the governor's administration and would take authority away from the independent California Air Resources Board. The Schwarzenegger administration says the existing air board lacks the resources to handle such a broad mandate.
Schwarzenegger's proposed amendments also include a provision allowing the new board to delay the caps if there is any economic harm, the technology to reduce greenhouse gases is not available or the environment might be harmed.
Administration officials say Schwarzenegger is willing to work with the Legislature to ensure that businesses are not given a free pass on meeting the caps.
"The safety valve will not be used as an escape for any business that can't meet the targets," said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. "It's meant to allow flexibility in the case of unforeseen significant circumstances like a natural disaster, pending litigation or technology that isn't available as quickly as expected."
Meanwhile, the bill's authors say they are willing to compromise but oppose a board of political appointees that would decide the fate of global warming regulations.
"I don't think that can all be fixed in the next few weeks," said Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, one of the authors.
Instead, Pavley said the governor and legislative leaders should focus on passing a bill that sets the caps and leaves the implementation to subsequent legislation.
"Let's establish a cap now and send the markets a signal so people can start investigating alternative fuels and then develop a program that makes sense," Pavley said. "When we set deadlines and we set caps, it's amazing what people can accomplish."
Both sides are gearing up for an intense lobbying campaign, beginning this week when environmental groups, water agencies, health advocates, local governments and religious leaders plan to converge on the Capitol.
Meanwhile, the business community, led by the California Chamber of Commerce, is sending the message that mandatory emission caps would make it more expensive for industries to do business in California.
"This noble goal of reducing greenhouse emissions and making energy use more efficient could backfire," said Dorothy Rothrock, a spokeswoman for the California Manufacturers & Technology Association. "It could hurt the economy and drive emissions outside California, thereby not improving the situation."
For now, the Democratic legislative leaders say they are not interested in putting Schwarzenegger in the hot seat. All sides say they expect to come up with a bill Schwarzenegger can sign.
"I want to give a victory to our children," Nunez said. "We want a sustainable planet."
___
On the Net:
Read the bill, AB32, at http://www.assembly.ca.gov
the problem is, once CARB adopts something - a group of 6 other populace states in the northeast also do - and that group can essentially dictate emissions policy for the US. the administration has done nothing to reform EPA - for example, CARB and EPA are stopping high mileage clean diesel cars from being sold in the US.
Sure, if California adopts this measure Illinois will follow
as will other blue states.
Will breathing be outlawed?
Arnold lost my vote long ago. Now he is on track to lose the votes of those who believe that global warming is a crisis that must be addressed at virtually any cost as well as the votes of those who believe that global warming is baloney. Republicans should be so proud.
It looks like California didn't learn a damn thing the last time they screwed around with energy regulations and about bankrupted the state.
They should just pass a 50% "Green Weenie" tax on all income, then they can give it to the Greens to play with.
Say good bye to the remaining industrial manufactueres.
This will only kill the U.S. economy giving immense power to the Chi-coms.
Yup! Deservedly so!
He's dumb enough to sign it.
There is no problem here!!
The only thing standing in the way of getting this done are a few whistful and powerless Conservatives and the entire CA economy!!! (CARB stalls everything!)(see tagline)
You can do it Arnold. You've done little else since hijacking the historic CA Recall election!!!
I cannot find one blown-up box, or one meaningful cutting of spending!!!
I am sure he will outlaw humans next. After all, we are carbon-based life forms.
Kalifornia would be a better place!
NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategic Research Institute's Global CO2 Cap-and-Trade Forum will take place September 18 to 19, 2006 in Washington D.C. Aside from soaring temperatures, August also saw the heating up of CO2 emissions and climate policy with a meeting in California between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The meeting was, according to Terry Tamminen, Governor Schwarzenegger's Special Assistant for Energy and Environmental Policy, "incredibly important." Tamminen explains that these leaders agreed "that we can't wait for the U.S. Federal government. Getting other states to take the measurable steps, including Kyoto-like targets and the appropriate actions to achieve them, as California has done, will build a de-facto national climate policy."
(snip)
Don't kid around about this! The CA EnvironMental Communutty with their new Republican Pied Piper the Governator will not stop until the atmosphere and the "waters of the United States" are completely STERILE!!!
That is their standard and they will NOT be stopped until they have squandered all the government's money (people's taxes) to achieve that final 1% by also bringing capitalism to a grinding, screeching, crashing HALT!!!
The political hermaphrodite Governor keeps saying we can have it both ways... a "clean" (read sterile) environment AND a thriving economy. Well, even as screwed up as his policy positions are, he doesn't see things from the American Lung Association's perspective, nor the Sierra Flub's, etc., etc., etc...
On the bright side, this might fix California's illegal alien problem. No industry = no jobs = no illegals.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/06/EDGVPKBEJG1.DTL
'Green' governor needs to cool it
Jill Stewart
Sunday, August 6, 2006
(snip)
On May 31, he unveiled his global-warming plan at the U.N. World Environmental Day Conference. He has proposed a rollback in emissions of gases believed linked to global warming to 2000 levels by 2010, followed by a series of further rollbacks.
Which brings us to his proposed "Climate Action Board," which would oversee a "comprehensive emission reduction system" affecting buildings, landfills, agriculture, the energy sector and many other areas. BreAnda Northcutt, of the California EPA, tells me, "The Air Resources Board has made it clear they don't have the expertise or manpower to operate a comprehensive emissions management system." The new board would not merely push through environmental regulations. It would have the power to stop regulations that curb greenhouse gases -- if those rules hurt the economy. It would decide upon "cap and trade" provisions that give monetary incentives to low polluters (a great idea), but allow some polluters to pay to avoid sanctions (a necessity. until we figure out how to make industries cleaner).
Arnold wants Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a Los Angeles Democrat, to amend AB32 to create his Climate Action Board. But some environmentalists are queasy, seeing the governor's idea as a possible end-run around the Air Resources Board. Do we want the governor to control this powerful new bureaucracy via an appointed body? It's true that the governor also appoints the members of the Air Resources Board, and it also serves at will. But the ARB has a long and steady history of doing its job. We know its work. Yet we don't even know who the governor will be six months from now. What if Schwarzenegger creates this powerful new body, and it immediately comes under control of "Gov. Phil Angelides"? I certainly don't want Angelides choosing the nine people who make global-warming decisions for California. He's clueless. But more importantly, because Schwarzenegger has a vision for how it should operate, shouldn't he wait until he knows whether he is re-elected the governor before he creates it?
I am sure Angelides is very happy with your attitude.
meaningful?
There has been NO reduction in spending, meaningful or other wise, since the Austrian ascended the throne. None.
The Austrian's dramatic requests for 30% spending increases are dramatically in excess of the same period, 6% inflation rate and 4% population growth. More precisely, they're about 300% in excess of the combined factors.
meaningful cutting of spending!!! ... right!
Hope you and your boy Angelidies don't plan a big celebration after the election.
You and the rest of the Angelides supporters are the ones who are trying to whip up anti-Arnold sentiments, so conservatives stay home and help Angelides get elected.
Look in the mirror and read what's on your forhead: ANGELIDES ACTIVIST -- you are not even just a supporter, you are actively working on getting Arnold defeated and Angelides elected -- along with the rest of "the ilk"
If the CAGOP refuses to financially support the conservative candidates on their 2006 slate, which is their record thus far, they're just digging a deeper hole for themselves in 2010.
If the CAGOP continues to attempt to minimize and disenfranchise conservatives, they will wake up one day and wonder how they became their own, traditional enemy, the party of liberalism.
When the big tent collapses, the CAGOP need not look toward conservatives for salvation. Conservatives will be instigating the moderate mob and handing out pitch forks.
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