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10/16/2006         GAAS:760:06           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Executive Order to Begin Implementation of Landmark Greenhouse Gas Legislation; Focuses on Developing Market-Based Solutions In conjunction with his meetings with New York Gov. Pataki and New York Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced an executive order that directs state agencies to begin implementation of AB 32, California's landmark global greenhouse legislation signed last month. Some of the highlights of the executive order include: • The Secretary for Environmental Protection shall be the statewide leader for California's greenhouse gas emission reduction programs for state...

Is water vapor a "pollutant"? Yes, according to the California Climate Action Team Report. Prepared in support of pending state "global warming" legislation, it recommends 45 emission-reduction measures intended to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions toward 1990 levels by 2020. Amazingly, the report fails to tell us the predicted reduction in future temperatures if 1990-level emissions are achieved. So we have done that analysis here. If California were to achieve the carbon-dioxide reductions, the predicted decline in world temperatures in the year 2100 would be thirteen one-thousandths of a degree Celsius.... The global-warming horror stories in the CCAT report – flooding, fires,...

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...

IN JUNE 2005, before an enthusiastic audience at World Environment Day in San Francisco, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared that, "California will be a leader in the fight against global warming... We know the science. We see the threat. And we know the time for action is now." That same day, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order to reduce California's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 30 percent by the year 2020 — establishing the most ambitious state-level emission reduction goal in history. The executive order also created a Climate Action Team (CAT), led by the Cal/EPA, to develop strategies and...

Does Arnold Schwarzenegger want to be a 1970s Democrat? It’s starting to look like the the governor is trying to channel what was cool when he was in his bodybuilding heyday in ‘70s era Santa Monica. First the surprise trip to United Farm Workers headquarters last Friday to commemorate Cesar Chavez Day. Then yesterday’s press release reminder that Rolling Stone magazine dubbed him one of 25 environmental "Warriors and Heroes." Can an Eagles fundraising concert be far behind? This as his office hurriedly released the administration’s long-in-the-making Climate Action Report and announced an April 11th Climate Action Summit in San...

SACRAMENTO--Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez introduced legislation Monday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, oil refineries and other industrial sources, a step he said would lead the nation in combating global warming while spurring the state's economy. "(The bill) sends a loud and clear message to ... innovators and entrepreneurs here and abroad to develop and bring clean technologies into the California marketplace," the Los Angeles Democrat said. Nunez announced the legislation on the same day Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration released a report calling for development of economic incentives that could include emission caps to cut greenhouse gases, chiefly...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today applauded the release of a report by his Climate Action Team that contains recommendations to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Last June, the Governor issued an executive order establishing unprecedented pollution reduction targets and the creation of a team of experts to recommend ways to achieve those goals. "As we begin a dialogue on the findings of this report, I would like to congratulate the Climate Action Team for their hard work and dedication to reducing greenhouse gases," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "I asked for 'out of the box' thinking to achieve groundbreaking reductions in greenhouse...

The California Chamber of Commerce, perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's closest political ally, may split with the governor over his commitment to drastically cut greenhouse-gas emissions. In an executive order signed last year, Schwarzenegger set firm targets for reducing carbon dioxide pollution beginning in 2010. At the same time, he asked the California Environmental Protection Agency to work with other government departments to develop strategies for meeting the goals. On Monday, the chamber denounced a draft report produced by the agency's "climate action team" as "not convincing" and a potential burden on the state's economy — especially proposals to levy a...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected this month to release a far-reaching proposal to combat global warming that calls for increasing the price of gasoline to fund research into alternative fuels and requiring industries for the first time to report the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions they produce. Nine months ago Schwarzenegger garnered international headlines by calling for California to mount an aggressive effort to address global warming. Now he faces the difficult part: shepherding new policies into place that could affect every car owner, farmer and big industry in the state. The proposal, drafted by...

SACRAMENTO -- California should impose a transportation fee — perhaps an added tax on gasoline — to reduce consumption of petroleum products and pay for measures to cut greenhouse gases, top advisers told Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers on Thursday. A so-called "public goods charge" on gasoline would be similar to the fee on electricity bills that pays for energy-efficiency programs. If a proportional fee was imposed at the pump, consumers would pay about 2.5 cents more per gallon. The draft recommendations by top administration officials are the first attempt to say how California can meet Schwarzenegger's ambitious pledge...