Posted on 12/02/2004 7:13:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A top aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described the administration's plans to reduce California's oil dependence, calling Thursday for more conservation, fuel-efficient vehicles, and hydrogen power.
Terry Tamminen, the governor's newly appointed Cabinet secretary, delivered the speech by videotape at a conference on transportation. It was sponsored by Calstart, a consortium of government agencies and private companies, including automakers.
Tamminen said drivers should try to conserve fuel in the near-term, with the midterm goal of buying more fuel-efficient cars and the long-term goal of finding cleaner fuels than petroleum, including hydrogen.
"Proper tire inflation, using your air conditioner more sparingly, driving the speed limit - basic simple things. No matter what you drive you can save 15 to 20 percent of your current fuel use," Tamminen said.
Tamminen, a former Santa Monica-based activist who once sued the state over ocean pollution, served as Schwarzenegger's director of the California Environmental Protection Agency until he took over Wednesday as Cabinet secretary. In his new role he serves as a liason between the governor and Cabinet.
Tamminen said unless California reduces its reliance on petroleum, it will likely face a shortage of petroleum in the next few years that will threaten the state's economy. He said drivers should conserve supply and seek alternative-fuel vehicles, such as those powered by electricity.
"We know battery electrics work extremely well," he said. "I drive a battery-electric around Sacramento and it's one of the best cars I've ever driven."
Tamminen predicted that the state would rely much more on hydrogen fuel in the next decade.
"By 2010 we will have a network of hydrogen fueling stations in the state, thousands of hydrogen vehicles to select from, initially from fleets and buses and mass transit but then expanding to consumer vehicles, and beyond that we can look for ways of moving toward hydrogen," he said.
Schwarzenegger has made hydrogen a key part of his environmental plans, but even some supporters of the technology say his timeline is overly optimistic.
Andy Weisser, an American Lung Association of California spokesman who attended the conference, commended the administration for backing hydrogen. But he said the state should also urge automakers to produce larger numbers of existing vehicles that are clean-burning and fuel efficient.
He noted that there are long waiting lists of people hoping to buy electric, natural gas, and hybrid vehicles.
"We need to focus on those existing technologies in addition to the governor's future plans," Weisser said.
Why this man didn't just run as a Democrat I'll never know.
fyi
I'm personally offended that they left out wind power and steam power. A progressive state like California should fully strive to return to the 1800's for all of it's energy needs.
Did ya happen to catch his bro-in-law and environmental advisor, RFK Jr. on with O-Really tonight?
I clicked it as soon as RFK Jr. said President Bush co-opted the Rats' agenda and therefore it was unfair to compare his daddy and JFKs actions of the 60s with President Bush's actions in his 1st term which fairly closely match his family forebearers with respect to cutting taxes, acting preemptively with Cuba and pursuing criminal elements globally.
California ain't tasted anywhere near enough of the bitterfruit of the Kennedys yet, I'm afraid... but give 'em time and we'll all be peddling bikes.. as the elitists tool around in hydrogen powered vehicles.
Those of us over 40 will recall that liberals and enviro kooks have been chanting this mantra since the 1970s. If a problem does exist, they certainly haven't solved it this way.
I missed the Leprachan (O'Reilly) tonight.
What is with Rhode Island, RFK Jr. and Lincoln Chaffee represent them. I think having your brain fried on drugs is a prerequist to getting elected there.
Pious platitudes that are totally meaningless.
We knew that Arnold was pro-abortion, but hoped that he might be decently quiet about it. Instead, he pushed for state funding of fetal stem cell research. He has done nothing to fix the budget. And now he has decided to do nothing about fixing the power regulation mess he inherited from Pete Wilson and Gray Davis.
This guy is hopeless.
The elite know best, which is why they have to lie to you to get your vote. Even if, in the end, the elite get the better accomodations, well, to each according to their needs.
Tell that fricken moron to start drilling off Monterey Bay where the oil is....billions and billions of barrels of it.
Yeah, But look on the bright side, he isn't making any movies either .. for now. ;-)
I had held out hope that he could at least have some positive influence in the disastrous anti-business climate in CA, but even that is now lost IMO.
I am a fairly high level corporate business manager and property owner here (CA). For the first time in my life, I am considering plans to move out. I'd rather wrestle alligators off my back porch in Pensacola than have to deal with the tax-and-spend-your-life's-savings bureaucrats in CA anymore.
What these people need is a college level course on thermodynamics. None seem to understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Arguably, they don't understand the zeroth either.
Hydrogen fuel does nothing to improve energy efficiency. It is only a means of transporting energy. It shifts the pollution problem from one location to another, but does not reduce it.
The other savings are miniscule effects: a few percent at best.
Since they all advocate solar, wind, tide, geothermal energy, I am waiting for them to throw their full support for karma based energy.
Alas.
They know that. They also know how much more scarce natural gas we'll burn pretending we're getting cleaner air. That's why the NRDC geeks who foisted the power crisis and wrote Arnold's environmental plan is funded by oil and gas interests.
BTTT!!!!!!!
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