Free Republic

President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official. It’s just one more in a string of eye-opening revelations by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his explosive new book, Throw Them All Out. The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer bailout have yet to emerge fully. However, one clue might be found in the person of Sanjay Wagle. Wagle was one of the principals in Kennedy’s firm who raised money for Barack...

LOS ANGELES – A relative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one of his former cabinet secretaries are part of a private investment group that could score a lucrative payoff if regulators approve a sprawling solar-energy complex near the Mojave Desert Preserve. The personal connections have raised questions about possible favorable treatment for a project being touted as a breakthrough in the development of solar power. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime environmental activist who is the cousin of first lady Maria Shriver, and former state Environmental Protection Secretary Terry Tamminen were named senior advisers at VantagePoint Venture Partners last year....

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...

In what is touted to be the largest solar deal in the world, Pacific Gas & Electric today announced that it has expanded a series of solar-power contracts with Oakland's BrightSource Energy for a total of 1,310 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 530,000 California homes during peak hours. Peak hours in the state are usually from noon to 7 p.m. The power purchase agreements, which will now include seven power plants, add to a previous contract the two companies struck last April for up to 900 megawatts of solar thermal power. The deal with PG&E means BrightSource now...

Southern California Edison said it has wrapped up the world's largest-ever agreement to buy electricity generated by solar power, a series of generators in California's eastern deserts that could eventually supply more than 800,000 homes. The utility, which serves Riverside County and the sprawling southern California territory outside of the city of Los Angeles and San Diego County, hopes the first of seven plants will begin operating in 2013, the company said in a press release Wednesday morning. The Rosemead-based utility counts nearly 5 million customers in Riverside and a half-dozen other California counties. BrightSource Energy Inc. of Oakland would...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A company backed by investors linked to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pressing regulators to speed up a review of its proposed $2 billion solar-energy complex, warning that delays would send a "chilling signal" to the emerging green power industry. But the California Energy Commission staff opposes the move, depicting it as an end run that could break apart a precedent-setting review of the planned solar site near the Mojave Desert Preserve. At the center of the dispute is a project widely viewed as a potential breakthrough in large-scale U.S. solar development. --snip-- The company says the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to make California a model for greener environmental policies will soon expand to a global stage when he meets with world leaders at a United Nations conference in September. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday invited the governor to the high-level meeting on global warming after the pair toured Echelon Corp., a San Jose-based company that provides energy-efficient networking technologies for residential, commercial, and public electrical equipment. Schwarzenegger accepted the invitation without hesitation at a news conference where the two dignitaries briefly discussed their shared commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. "Global...

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first moves upon entering California's bizarre gubernatorial recall election in 2003 was to contact Terry Tamminen and persuade him to join his campaign. Or so Schwarzenegger maintains in the March issue of Outside magazine. Why Tamminen? Because Schwarzenegger wanted to do something significant about global warming, and he knew that Tamminen's environmental credentials were second to none. Just days after his stunning victory, Schwarzenegger then named Tamminen -- who grew up on Milwaukee's north side -- the first secretary of the state's Environmental Protection Agency. And in 2006, the two convinced California's Legislature to pass the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is continuing his foreign policy campaign, bypassing the federal government to help set international agreements on global warming, while a longtime friend and environmental advisor, Terry Tamminen, is consulting with the Canadian government about their carbon dioxide regulations. In anticipation of Schwarzenegger's trip to Canada next month, British Columbia announced yesterday it would participate a five-state Western carbon market where polluters can trade credits with greener companies. The idea is to have four or five Canadian provinces, and perhaps Mexico as well, joining the pact with California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. Schwarzenegger also has signed...

Of all the authors who have penned indictments of Big Oil in the past few years, few have as much insight — or access — to the major players of the industry as Terry Tamminen. Years of working on energy policy as special advisor on environmental issues to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and as head of the state's Environmental Protection Agency have given Tamminen plenty of ammunition to use against petroleum companies and U.S. carmakers, and he employs it to powerful effect in his new book, "Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction." Tamminen, who will speak at...

California has an oil addiction. As every self-help professional knows, to break an addiction you have to face the problem and admit you're hooked. The arguments against Proposition 87 sound as hollow as an alcoholic promising to stop after just one more drink. Proposition 87 would develop cleaner, cheaper fuels for our vehicles and build new energy industries and jobs here at home, in places such as Stockton, Salinas and San Diego. Despite valiant efforts and significant improvement for decades, the state still has the nation's worst air pollution, causing asthma, lung disease, cancer and crop damage, and exacerbating the...

Ten years ago, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was enhancing his movie career with "Jingle All the Way," his future environmental adviser Terry Tamminen was working as a pool-cleaning expert, water cop and would-be Bard of the Bay. As Santa Monica Baykeeper, Tamminen spent his days tooling around in his boat harassing litterbugs. He also was promoting copies of his book, "The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual," while playing the role of Shakespeare in a children's play he wrote. Over the objections of some Republican advisers, Schwarzenegger appointed Tamminen as secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Then he became the governor's cabinet...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's environmental adviser said his mission to change federal policy on global warming by getting vast regions of the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will start with states on the Mexican border. Terry Tamminen is working with Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat in neighboring Arizona, to spearhead an effort to spread rules like California's to cut greenhouse gases to other states. In the absence of federal regulation on emissions of gases scientists link to global warming, the California legislature passed rules two weeks ago that require the state...

If Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most influential leaders on the environment today, much credit goes to Terry Tamminen, the brains behind the California governor's brawn on all things green. Tamminen, a Democrat and long-time conservationist, teamed up with the Republican actor and bodybuilder three years ago for his election and later became his top environmental aide. Their efforts culminated last month in a bipartisan landmark global warming law that makes California the first US state to mandate a cut in greenhouse gas emissions, equal to 25 percent by 2020. Now the governor, who has accused fellow Republican US...

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept 17 (Reuters) - If Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most influential leaders on the environment today, much credit goes to Terry Tamminen, the brains behind the California governor's brawn on all things green. Tamminen, a Democrat and long-time conservationist, teamed up with the Republican actor and bodybuilder three years ago for his election and later became his top environmental aide. Their efforts culminated last month in a bipartisan landmark global warming law that makes California the first U.S. state to mandate a cut in greenhouse gas emissions, equal to 25 percent by 2020. Now the...

One of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's closest advisors and strongest voices for cleaner energy has left the administration, a departure that environmental activists describe as a worrisome loss. Terry Tamminen, a favorite of the governor who held some of the most powerful positions on his staff, is now working for Schwarzenegger's campaign as a volunteer and is not planning to return after the election, the governor's aides said. Tamminen, a Democrat, was part of an inner circle with easy access to the governor, leaving him well-positioned to make the case for solar energy, alternative fuels and environmental protection. With Tamminen gone,...

Maybe it's the summer heat, or Al Gore's documentary. Whatever the cause, California environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers have embarked on an ambitious campaign to catapult the state ahead of the nation on a number of green initiatives. From greenhouse-gas caps to alternative energy, they say it's time to make significant changes after watching a number of clean-water and air-quality bills vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in recent years. They say the looming election should also help motivate politicians to think green. (snip) At the center of the debate is AB 32, which would require industries to report how much greenhouse...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce today his support for a strategy to combat global warming that has drawn criticism from Republicans and business leaders, aides said Monday. The market-based approach would include controversial "cap-and-trade" requirements mandating greenhouse gas producers who exceed certain tonnages of harmful emissions to buy credits from other companies that have lowered emissions. Schwarzenegger is expected to make the announcement, endorsing major components of his climate action team's plan, at a summit he has convened in San Francisco this afternoon bringing together economists, investors, business executives, environmentalists and lawmakers. Legislative approval could be needed to enact key...

SACRAMENTO – In Michigan, where automakers still reign, the Rev. Charles Morris cites Scripture and California policy as he campaigns for curbs on tailpipe and smokestack emissions linked to disruptions in global weather patterns that can threaten water, power and food supplies. “California is the leader of the pack,” says the Catholic priest who tends a parish in Wyandotte, just outside Dearborn. “They put in emission reductions. They put in reformulated gas,” Morris said. “The sky didn't fall. The sun still shines. It belies the myths put out there.” Religious leaders such as Morris – joining a growing number of...

<p>Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's pick to head the state's environmental protection agency on Thursday criticized the Bush administration for failing to curb greenhouse gases or prevent forest fires.</p> <p>In his first public remarks since his appointment, Terry Tamminen, executive director of Environment Now in Santa Monica, said a federal decision earlier this year "undermines our ability to control greenhouse gases.''</p>