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California’s Potemkin Environmentalism - A celebrated green economy produces pollution elsewhere...
City Journal ^ | Spring 2008 | Max Schulz

Posted on 05/08/2008 11:23:23 AM PDT by neverdem

A celebrated green economy produces pollution elsewhere, ongoing power shortages, and business-crippling costs.

Rancho Seco was once a nuclear plant generating over 900 megawatts of electricity; today, its solar panels produce just 4.In January 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stood before the California legislature in Sacramento and delivered his fourth State of the State address since his improbable 2003 election. It was a rhetorical tour de force that would win him widespread acclaim. “California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta,” said Schwarzenegger. “Not only can we lead California into the future; we can show the nation and the world how to get there.”

Schwarzenegger especially celebrated California for its leadership on energy and the environment. Just three months earlier, he had signed the Global Warming Solutions Act, committing California to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels—roughly 25 percent below today’s—by 2020, and all but eliminating them by 2050. The Governator then lambasted the Bush administration for failing to tackle global warming: “It would not act, so California did. California has taken the leadership in moving the entire country beyond debate and denial to action.” Such performances have helped establish Schwarzenegger as a national figure, even a statesman, on the environment. In April 2007, he posed for the cover of Newsweek, spinning a globe on his finger under the banner leadership & the environment, and in September, he even addressed the United Nations on climate change.

Schwarzenegger’s reputation as an environmental trailblazer is in keeping with California’s recent history and self-perception. California’s political leaders, business titans, academics, and environmental activists proudly point to the fact that the state has infused its public policy over the last four decades with an environmental consciousness unmatched in the United States, while also maintaining a dynamic economy, arguably the eighth-largest on...

(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: arnoldschwarzenegger; energy; environmentalism; globalwarming; pollution; schwarzenegger

1 posted on 05/08/2008 11:23:27 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta

That's a great piece of prose, but so misplaced.

2 posted on 05/08/2008 11:35:37 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: neverdem

ping for later read.


3 posted on 05/08/2008 11:37:37 AM PDT by WOSG (Gameplan: Obama beats Hillary, McCain beats Obama, conservatives beat RINOs)
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To: agere_contra
“California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta,” said Schwarzenegger.

Yeah, but Sparta had weapons.

California expanding ban on 'assault weapons' - Register, sell, disable or remove guns from state by Dec.31

4 posted on 05/08/2008 11:51:39 AM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: neverdem

ping for later read.


5 posted on 05/08/2008 11:52:42 AM PDT by WOSG (Gameplan: Obama beats Hillary, McCain beats Obama, conservatives beat RINOs)
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To: WOSG

BUMP!


6 posted on 05/08/2008 12:02:30 PM PDT by Publius6961 (You're Government, it's not your money, and you never have to show a profit.)
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To: mvpel
That article comes from July 20, 2000 when I still lived in California. My firearms were relocated to Idaho by Dec 2000. The gun grabbing laws were very much a factor in my choice of places to relocate.
7 posted on 05/08/2008 12:05:59 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; goldstategop; Syncro; William Tell; CAluvdubya; CyberAnt; Citizen James; ...

The green jig is up!


8 posted on 05/08/2008 1:04:38 PM PDT by neverdem (I'm praying for a Divine Intervention.)
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To: neverdem; IrishCatholic; Normandy; Delacon; TenthAmendmentChampion; Horusra; CygnusXI; Fiddlstix; ..
 




Beam me to Planet Gore !

9 posted on 05/08/2008 4:04:23 PM PDT by steelyourfaith
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