Posted on 04/11/2006 9:13:33 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have reversed course on several issues since taking office in 2003, but on one key concern he has been unwavering: the need to do everything possible to help the state's economy thrive in a 21st century that will be marked by enormous competition. “California is already on the leading edge of the global economy and it's changing and growing by leaps and bounds. And yet we will let this advantage slip from our fingers if we don't make the long-term investment in our ports, our roads, our schools, our information systems – and all the other infrastructure required to compete in a world that thrives on innovation,” he said in his January State of the State address.
This is what makes his high-profile advocacy of new greenhouse-gas rules so baffling. They would saddle California employers with a unique economic disadvantage not affecting rival firms in the other 49 states or the rest of the world.
We supported state regulators' decision to require that vehicles sold here must reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. That tells all the world's automakers that if they want to reach consumers in the Golden State, they must all bear an extra cost: making their products more environmentally friendly.
But that's not remotely the same thing as demanding that the factories, power plants and refineries operating in California conform to emission rules that don't apply to competitors elsewhere. Inevitably, such rules will lead to lost business and fewer jobs – and for California to go this route alone would have at best a very marginal effect on total emissions.
This is why it is obvious that emission standards should be set at the international and national levels – not in piecemeal fashion by the states of one country.
Schwarzenegger has done an abysmal job in responding to this critique. Despite the strong objections of the Chamber of Commerce, he insists that adding unique costs to doing business in California somehow will help business. This is double-talk.
Given that Schwarzenegger depicts his campaign as a moral crusade, it's not surprising that he will say anything to sell his plan. Uh, governor, if moral crusades destroy jobs without actually achieving anything, are they still moral?
The need for action on greenhouse gases is plain, but it rests with leaders in Washington and other world capitals. If Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to become the point man for Republicans exhorting President Bush to change his approach, good for him. But if he damages the state's economy in a quixotic attempt to challenge the global status quo, bad for him and every Californian – because there is simply no evidence that the rest of the world is waiting to be inspired to action by one green governor.
One-third of the greenhouse gas reductions outlined in the climate action team's report would come from a tailpipe control law already in place, sponsored by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills). Automakers are challenging that law in court, arguing that California does not have the legal right to regulate carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas."This is a tough case," said lawyer Jim Marston of Environmental Defense, a national environmental group that has intervened on the automakers' lawsuit. He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also needs to sign a waiver approving the Pavley law and said California might have to wait for a new president for that to happen.
But he said California has quietly inserted a police powers clause into laws giving them the right to regulate greenhouse gases to protect public health.
I feel for those stuck in colbalt blue states, but we really do profit from it.
Soon, certainly in the next census, Florida will have more delegates than NY.
We don't mind.
Hey Guv, you go for it!
Boo-hoo, Detroit.
Is this a joke. It's starting to sound like a conspiracy.
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