Schwarzenegger's plan for economic boost is no boon to the environment

News item: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, desperate to improve a worsening budget crisis, demands that long-standing environmental protections be removed from 10 major highway projects currently tied up in courts over various issues. Economic boost: perhaps $1.2 billion.

Reaction: This is the same leader who, as part of his 2008-09 budget proposal, advocated closing 48 state parks and reducing lifeguard staffing at 16 state beaches. Schwarzenegger also supported the now-dead proposal to erect a toll road through San Onofre State Beach.

These are desperate times, sure, but why must the governator always turn his bazookas on the environment as a route toward financial salvation? The latest plan, as outlined in an L.A. Times story on Sunday, essentially would exempt the projects from the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970.

Some of the projects could harm endangered species. Others might significantly add to greenhouse gases, while others may simply jeopardize environmentally sensitive areas.

Environmental safeguards must not be swept aside merely because the state can't balance its budget. Imagine the precedent that would set. To foster his agenda, Schwarzenegger has even sent a letter to Barack Obama asking that the environmental reviews be waived on the highway projects.

Hopefully, the president-elect's answer will be the right one.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: A deer moves through the shade of Topanga State Park. Credit: Los Angeles Times