Meg Whitman wants to "fix" California's global warming law

For weeks, Meg Whitman, California's Republican gubernatorial candidate, has said that if elected she would suspend the state's 2006 global warming law for a year.

But in Tuesday's debate with Democratic candidate Jerry Brown, at Dominican University in San Rafael, she also said something else: She wants not only to delay the law, known as AB 32, but to "fix" it. She told the audience that only 3% of California jobs are "green jobs" and that the law "is going to do real damage to the rest of the jobs in the economy."

At a campaign stop Wednesday at Philippe's restaurant in L.A., Whitman was questioned by the Times' Cathleen Decker about how she would fix the law, which is aimed at slashing the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

She responded:  "So I want to freeze the law, the implementation of the law, and fix it.  And here’s what I want to do: Can we change the implementation schedule? Can we change some of the way that we’re going to implement this law so it doesn’t hurt businesses so immediately, like trucking or packaging or manufacturing? But I believe that there is a way to protect the 3% of the jobs that are green jobs while we don’t hurt the other 97% of the economy."

She said such a fix had always been part of her thinking: "Well, the reason that you would put a moratorium on for a year is to say, gee, will employment decrease, but, more importantly, is there a way to fix AB32 in such a way that it would be good for green jobs, we can still have national leadership on the environment but also not hurt the other 97% of the economy?" she asked.

Whitman, former chief executive of EBay, has walked a fine line on the global warming issue, which is a major concern for the state's green-leaning voters. Both she and Brown oppose Proposition 23, a ballot measure to suspend the law until California's jobless rate drops to 5.5% for a year--an initiative that would effectively delay it indefinitely. The measure is funded largely by Texas-based oil companies with refineries in California.

Whitman's rejection of Prop. 23 came after significant pressure from fellow Silicon Valley executives who back the global warming law as a way to slash fossil fuel emissions and direct the state's economy toward solar, wind and other clean technology. Seven of the nation's 10 largest clean tech companies are based in California.

California's Air Resources Board is in the midst of developing complex regulations to slash the carbon footprint of cars, trucks and industries. The regulations are scheduled to be finalized in December. The agency is being heavily lobbied by oil companies, cement manufacturers, utilities, automakers and other businesses who would like the regulations to be "fixed" to lessen their effect.

Environmentalists are pushing for strict rules that would drive investment in energy efficiency, solar plants, and cleaner fuels. In Tuesday's debate, Brown said that delaying the law would create "regulatory uncertainty" for clean tech investors and businesses.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who sees the global warming law and the push for green jobs as a major legacy of his administration, has pointedly not endorsed Whitman.

--Margot Roosevelt

RELATED:

Proposition 23: Opponents Surge Ahead in Fundraising

Prop 23 campaigns go head-to-head in TV spots

Prop 23 poll shows dead heat among voters

Photo: Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman criticized AB 32, California global warming law, in a debate with Democrat Jerry Brown at Dominican University in San Rafael on Tuesday. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli /Pool

Comments

[gopmeetreality]

just like arnold did?

Meg is Arnold (in drag)

watch the ad and judge for yourself!

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/blogs/prop-zero/Jerry-Tries-to-Tie-Meg-to-Arnold-in-New-Ad-105293828.html

[Mel Gurney]

Okay, this tipped me -- I'm voting against her.

When smokers (and tobacco companies) kept insisting hey, many scientists say cigarettes aren't connected with cancer, I just shrugged -- it's their lungs, their lives, and if they want to kill themselves with their own hypocrisy then so be it. But you hurt the planet, you hurt me and my kids -- and I'll fight you on that.

[Harry Dale Huffman]

Correction to earlier post: "Climate Change Reconsidered", the book-length rebuttal by renowned scientists to the politicized, biased science put out by the United Nations IPCC, and falsely put before the public as the authoritative scientific consensus, is downloadable for free at http://www.nipccreport.org/reports/2009/2009report.html
As a physical scientist, I must say that climate science is today a politicized farce, and you can't trust the "consensus" at all, nor the paradigm of an Earth balanced on a razor thin edge between livability and destruction. The hysteria being promulgated in the name of science over "greenhouse gases" is just that, hysteria. Personally speaking, no matter who you vote for in this election, if you go through with implementing harsh laws on the basis of faulty science, you will be abetting the downfall of science in the minds of your children, not its necessary and proper use.

[gepids]

For all the deniers. Worst case - climate change is a fact what type of world did you leave future citizens of the US and the world? What if the models are true, the consequences of our choices will be thier reality not ours.

I have no idea about the validity of climate change, most of science says we are effecting the climate, we are that is fact. Human or any foreign contact has an impact even at the micro level. Sleep on the ground your body oils alter the PH balance of the soil. So what if it is true, what is our legacy??? It's your kids not mine. I'm gay and don't have kids. In 30 year I"m dead. But what world are you leaving your grandkids.

[Big Jim Slade]

If AB32 is allowed to go through, one would logically assume that the LA Times would be one of the very first companies to be shut down- tree deforestation, hundreds of trucks and associated pollution, massive electricity, huge amounts of garbage created on the streets and in the landfills, etc. Note exactly the most eco-friendly operation.

An obsolete technology to be sure. Besides, half the editorial writers could get a job with "High Times" instead. Many of them are half way there already.

[Newport]

This woman is a menace to our health and to the health of the planet.

[Gilda]

Well, we can see that she plans to play into the hands of polluting corporations. But then, they're probably also big contributors to her campaign.

[David]

Hey "smith" You tout that Cali is bleeding jobs and that's no lie, but then you turn around and say "vote for Whitman" Well genius, just who do you think is responsible for sending those jobs to China, India, Indonisia? GOP's like Carly and Meg. Good God, pull your head out.

I wouldn't trust either of these self interested ego trips to change a light bulb.

[Harry Dale Huffman]

Those who think the scientific debate over global warming is over, should go to www.nipcc.org and download the 868-page scientific report, "Climate Change Reconsidered". It contains a detailed, thorough rebuttal to the slipshod science put forward by the United Nations IPCC. Your environmental concerns should still be fine particle (aerosol) pollutants, not "greenhouse gases". Science does not know enough about the climate to "control" it, either, so a word to the wise: save your money.

[Dave Wyman]

Whenever Whitman feels the pressure, when she feels defensive, that is to say, when she's about to tell something that probably isn't true, she starts her sentences with, "So."

As in: "So I want to freeze the law, the implementation of the law, and fix it."

Translation: "I'm throwing a bone to global warming deniers so they'll vote for me."

[Dave9]

Anyone who has lived in Los Angeles for more than 20 years can remember a time when the smog was really bad and how much cleaner the air is now. This is a fact and here is the history:
http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Archives/History/marchcov.html

The Fremont auto plant was closed because GM went into bankruptcy, a company that chose SUVs over electric cars:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/jan-june10/nummi_02-09.html

But it may be reopened by Tesla, an electric car company based in California:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/technology/ci_16096342

So before you start claiming that the environment hurts business and we need to eliminate these laws, do some homework.

[ConcernedCitizen]

Meg Whitman reminds me of Biff Tannen in Back to the Future II, where Biff/NutMeg is rich and powerful in a corrupt and dark alternate world.

[isthison?]

"Whitman's rejection of Prop. 23 came after significant pressure from fellow Silicon Valley executives who back the global warming law..."

So...she's repositioned herself to placate greenies? And we should believe her intentions because...why again? And she buys into the GOP "job loss" argument connected with AB32, but not the GOP position that global warming is a hoax?

I don't believe she has any intention of seeing AB32 implemented, esp after reading this.

[dude]

CARB is an appointed board which is untouchable. They can in essence dictate and control the quality of everyones livelyhood. Mary Nichols, the head of CARB should be arrested for conspiracy, for allowing fraudulent research (Hein Tran, Mail order degree) to be presented to the rest of the board and put up for a vote.
Most everyone I know "loves" the environment but CARB is comprised of fanatics who are playing with our future. Corporations have left and many more are leaving.

The Diesel emissions is one BIG factor as these "HUSS" clean air systems which will now be required for diesel are over $20k a piece.

If AB32 (No on 23) is successful, don't be surprised if they start looking at charging people for just breathing, afterall every person has a "Carbon footprint".

[Silverlake Mike]

Meg doesn't want Arnold's endorsement. He is universally viewed as a failure by both sides of the political spectrum. His endorsement is worthless, or more likely, harmful.

[frmkt]

Hi Meg: will you please bring us 93 octane? She's getting my vote either way.

[Ayres Cayo]

Since the Reign of MoonBEam the First, Cosmic Commander ...

... has there actually been a Democrat piece of legislation that doesn't start out ...

1) Hire 10,000 civil servants to vote Democrat, so they vote their own raises
2) Raise Taxes on anything that moves ... trash, cell phones, Cable ...
3) Spend at least $10 plus
4) Pay off Unions

Since MoonBEam Uno, Cosmic Commander and Leader of the Illegal Aliens - can anyone point to legislation that saved the taxpayers money and created real jobs (not civil servants or company decimating unions)?

[smith]

Whitman is right. A recession like we have now is no time to be piling on businesses with new regulations.

Only movie stars and college rpofessors want this law to stay intact.

Remember all the "smart" people who told us that electronic manufacturing just "had" to be done in the US? Same with steel? That Boeing in Long Beach "had" to stay in California? That GM's assembly plant in Van Nuys "had" to stay in California because we were the "cutting edge" of auto ownerhsip and trends?

Guess again. Those companies have gone for the most part to friendlier places.

California is bleeding jobs: lets not lose any more. Suspend that stupid law or get rid of it. Vote for Whitman!!

[Jim H]

There is one way to fix the green energy law: don't elect eMeg.

You know, if you look at Western Europe, there are conservative governments in Britain, France and Germany. None of them subscribe to the crackpot idea that global warming is not real. That is something we are uniquely saddled with because of the conjunction of religious quacks and Big Oil's desire to hold political power even more tightly while our oil supplies get more and more costly.

The Global Warming Deniers are political and religious extremists.

[Mea Sententia]

There is a way to fix AB32. A 100% repeal... There is no anthropogenic global warming and CARB is nothing but a con-artist group that is out to destroy the California economy. Ask yourself, how much are you personally willing to give up to stop C02? If the human race ceased to exist, the C02 levels would not change.... Think before you buy the democrat/liberal lies...

[save the deserts!]

OK, am I the only one who laughed out loud when she said how "trucking" would "move out of state?"

Um, how the HECK are they gonna get the goods from the Ports of LA and Long Beach to where they are going? teleportation to the Arizona border, where REAL Americans can start driving REAL polluting trucks? Or maybe she was going to just stop all imports into the state in order to comply?

This is the kind of completely ridiculous stuff she says - how can ANYONE stand her?

[Jeffsd]

Here is all Meg needs to say on the environment:

"If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's Brown flush it down."

[Terry Black]

The Clean Energy sector is growing four times faster than the state-wide average, according to a study conducted by UC Berkeley. It's one the fastest-growing sources of new jobs in California.

Suspending AB32 to make jobs is like turning away your best customers in order to improve business.

And for those who say global warming is a hoax,take a look at this: http://www.logicalscience.com/consensus/consensusD1.htm

[ConcernedCitizen]

"Because of her hypocrisy, her phony morals, her poor judgment, and her willingness to separate, rather than unite Californians of every color, creed, religion, ethnicity, and sexual identity, we don’t think that Meg Whitman deserves to be the Governor of the State of California."

Huffington Post article on the New York gubernatorial race altered to substitute their dark horse candidate for ours.

[Ayres Cayo]

MoonBEam breaks out the surfboard wax, spiffs up the dome and breaks out the same tired mantra of 50 years ago of the pre-cataclysmic MoonBEam I economic decimation.

Great work Che BEam, but to get companies like $300 Billion market capitalization Apple, Google and others to invest in California and new jobs, you can't tax them into oblivion or to Texas.

Good luck in taking over the failed Cuban economy MoonBEam, and take the "Secret Economic" Plan that you can't release until after the election with you.

[Ayres Cayo]

Deep Journalistic Review ... Woodward / Bernstein ... Daniel Ellsberg ring any bells?

1) No Reporter thinks it a a tad odd that MoonBEam hasn't released an economic plan, and that MoonBEam's economic plan "will remain Secret, until after the election"?

- "the 50 year old dog ate my homework election strategy"?

2) No reporter will go interview all the illegals working on Peloi's Vineyard?

Not exactly the "4th" estate of electoral protections.

[lwps]

If it is a lie, there is usually a republican talking point behind it. Jobs are moving overseas, not out of state. Nevertheless, there is a huge recession, and that is the main reason jobs are going away. Meg just parrots what Pete Wilson tells her. The worst thing that could happen to this state is for her to be elected. She has no idea what to do. She makes up the lies as she goes.

[Jim]

Funny thing about environmental laws, sometimes we are far better off with them.

Remember when your car needed it's spark plugs changed every 10,000 miles? Remember smog alerts?

People said cars would never run well on unleaded gas, but modern cars seem to run better than they ever did.

Take the lead out of paint? It'll never work. When was the last time you saw a faded red car? Let's poison our society over colors, a great idea.

[Hypatia]

Smeg would dismantle Santa's workshop if she thought she could squeeze a dime for her deep pocket buddies out of it.

[Jack E. Williams]

There is not one reputable scientific organization that refutes anthropogenic global warming. Thousands of the world’s best scientists have participated in, and support the research and conclusions of the IPCC…and these conclusions have been supported by the research and opinions of the National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society (UK's equivalent to the NAS), and thirty of national academies of science, NOAA, NASA, EPA, American Geophysical Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Society, and hundreds of the world’s best universities. To believe AGW is not important or is some kind of global scam is morally and intellectually dishonest.

[rvc]

This law is driving business out of CA. The auto plant in Fremont closed because of the regulation. The state sacrificed thousands of workers so that they could bring in Tesla to build electric cars which will only hire 1000 workers if that. There receiving billions from the government to stay in business along with the solar companies but there losing money. So there plan which Jerry is behind 100% is to sacrifice thousands of jobs for green jobs how is this going to fix our state when other state aren't as strict. Companies will move, gas prices will rise and food will cost more because truckers will have to fix their truck to meet the new standards. How many people can afford to add solar to their homes the cost is around 40K but with the new law they will make it manditor for you to upgrade your home to be more enery efficent before you sell it- costing you thousands.

[John E. McCue]

When Meg Whitman claims she will build jobs, she does not state
where the jobs will be. Will they be in China or India or Indonesia et al?
If you want to see Republican philosophy at work, look at the oil spill in the Caribbean. Or look at the owner of a mine that lacks the funds to save it's employees, but, does have the funds to pay it's exectives well. Imagine the philosophy that managed Enron. Can you imagine that philosophy providing us with our health care, or our electricity, safe water, education, transportation, roads, bridges

[Frederick Farias]

The global warming movement is very destructive and based on a hoax. The idea of global warming is a hoax. So merely to put a moratorium on the law is not enough, but it is better than just allowing it to become implemented. To implement global warming law would be to completely hamper and restrict the functions of industry and would eventually destroy industrial work or work requiring any technology.