California's Williamson Act, which was designed to protect farmland from development, is under threat in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state budget plan, according to the S.F. Chronicle and The Ethicurean and The Sacramento Bee and Grist and a local Assemblywoman and the Tulare Chamber of Commerce.
Environmentalists are closely watching the budget-cutting proposal from the pro-growth "green" governor, who simultaneously wants to curb global-warming emissions while spending billions on new or refurbishing freeways. He's so complicated!
The Williamson Act, says the Ethicurean, "helps preserve farms and ranches by allowing those who enroll in the program to have their land taxed at a rate based on actual use, not potential use. The state then compensates cities and counties for the revenue loss." But the governor's budget would shift the $40 million cost to cities and
counties, which would increase the temptation on farmers to "to
shut down operations and sell to the highest bidder, namely developers."
"It was a bad idea then and an
even worse idea today," Assemblywoman Lois Wolk wrote to Schwarzenegger recently, referring to a similar proposal by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
"We urge you to reconsider this ill-advised proposal that will only
harm our rural economies while providing negligible benefit to the
state budget."
The governor's agriculture secretary, A.G. Kawamura, says the Schwarzenegger administration doesn't want to end the Act, but rather shift responsibility: "These
local budgets have seen tremendous growth in property tax revenues in
the past decade and are in a better position than the state to continue
with this responsibility."
(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
A group of ExxonMobil shareholders--including the California State Teachers Retirement System and the New York City Employees Retirement System--said they planned to increase pressure on oil giant ExxonMobil to change its climate change policies. "ExxonMobil's go-slow approach on renewables, its resistance to a strong national climate policy, and its campaign to muddy the waters on climate science is troubling to investors," said California state controller and CalSTRS board member John Chiang. IndustryWeek.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, both Republicans, have authored a scathing opinion piece accusing the Bush administration of inaction and denial that "borders on malfeasance" for blocking tailpipe emission regulations in several states. In the Washington Post today, the duo write:
"By continuing to stonewall
California's request, the federal government is blocking the will of
tens of millions of people in California, Connecticut and other states
who want their government to take real action on global warming.
"The
EPA is finally holding the first of two hearings on the waiver request
tomorrow, and we welcome the opportunity to call attention to the
harmful effects that global warming is having on people and the
environment. But we are far from convinced that the agency intends to follow the law and grant us our waiver. If it fails to do so, we have an obligation to take legal action and settle this issue once and for all." [Emph. added.]
Schwarzenegger and Rell (pictured together looking rather gloomy at a White House event in February) said President George W. Bush's recent executive order requiring further study on global warming "sounds like more of the same inaction and denial, and it is unconscionable."
(Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)
Actor Burt Reynolds, left, accepts the action movie star lifetime achievement award from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 7th Annual Taurus World Stunt Awards yesterday in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger called Reynolds "the greatest of the great."
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger is in Salt Lake City today for a ceremony that will add Utah to the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative. So far, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia have agreed to join the registry, which would track carbon emissions and establish a trading scheme among the states.
Schwarzenegger is signing the agreement with Jon Huntsman Jr., the California-born Republican governor of Utah. Huntsman's decision, according to the Deseret News, "is a bold move that sends a
national message to conservatives that global warming demands
attention, according to Dan Schnur, a political science instructor at
the University of California Berkeley. Schnur said: "This has the potential to be the energy version of Nixon going
to China. A lot of cold warriors felt much more
comfortable establishing relations with China once Nixon was on the
issue. A governor like Huntsman from a state like Utah provides cover
for conservatives in other places."
Something tells me Schwarzenegger (who is traveling to Canada, England and India this year) likes playing the global diplomat more than policy wonk. The excruciating details of health care reform await him when he returns from Utah. Or, rather, after "The Tonight Show" alongside Debra Messing.
If you're rich, influential or Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Svalbard looks forward to seeing you and enlisting your help in solving the planet's climate crisis," the World Hum blog says.
The Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean wants corporate titans and important politicians to see its melting ice flows and endangered polar bears. Perhaps they can take a look at the Svalbard Arctic Seed Depository, where 9,000 species of seeds are locked in an underground safe in preparation for a global catastrophe.
Ben & Jerry's runs a "climage
change college" in the village of Longyearbyen. And Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger has been invited to a global warming summit in August. No word yet on whether he will attend. U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain, visited in 2004. Since then
Nordic prime ministers, tourists, climate students and Arctic
researchers are headed there too.
(Photo: Francois Lenoir/Reuters)
Who is the better environmental spokesman, former Vice President Al Gore or Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger? Slate.com and MediaCurves.com asked a focus group of Democrats, Republicans and independents to register their impressions of both politicians in real time - and the results are here.
The report includes videos of Schwarzenegger and Gore speaking while a fever chart superimposed on the screen registers the various instant reactions. Schwarzenegger does well among all groups, while Gore is the Democratic favorite.
While California has been focused on what comes out of a car's tailpipe, much less attention has been paid to what comes out of a cow's rear end. California is one of the largest dairy producers in the U.S., and the "happy cows" that allegedly live on green-green hillsides flirting with each other also produce a lot of manure.
The efforts to control emissions from cows will offer an insight into how California regulators finally implement global warming regulations signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year, and how much influence the agriculture industry has on public policy.
Cows contribute to global warming through the creation of nitrous oxide and methane. It's estimated that if all the manure created in California was converted in "methane digesters," it would generate 200 megawatts of electricity a year. That's roughly enough energy to power 200,000 homes - the city of Glendale, for example. It could go into cars as well. Students at Western Washington University have produced the Viking 32, for example, a vehicle powered by electricity and biomethane - cow manure (pictured below.)
But the California Air Resources Board, which must implement the global warming regulations, has put the agriculture's production of methane on a secondary list of priorities.
The influential board has three "early action" items - curbing emissions from tailpipes and the "non-professional" servicing of air conditioners, and increasing the capture of methane from landfills. The get-to-it by 2009 list is much longer and includes regulations on cow methane, cooler roofs, the electrification of ports and a host of other actions. The early action report is here, PDF.
Why the wait on agriculture? Carbon Control News today says officials want to make sure a new cap-and-trade system championed by Schwarzenegger is established before putting mandatory regulations on dairies that could
"crush an emerging GHG credit trading program as well as an alternative
electricity generation and biogas market through the utilization of
methane digester technology. 'We don't want to destroy this emerging technology by mandating it too
soon or setting unrealistic expectations for what it can do,' says a
dairy industry source."
The Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment, meanwhile, wants air regulators to mandate methane digester technology on dairies and require that cows to be housed in enclosed barns to "limit further enteric methane emissions." But, the newsletter says, methane from some California farms already is being credited and sold on the carbon trading market, and PG&E has reached agreements with some farms that supply methane power to the grid.
That's all for now. Amid Schwarzenegger's high-profile chest-beating over the new global warming regulations, California business is closely watching the fine-print regulatory action in Sacramento. In this case, the influence of California's vast agriculture industry will be something to watch during the next two years as the air board gets around to cows.
(Photos:
Alex Wong/Getty Images; Damian Dovarganes/AP)
Terry Tamminen, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former Cal-EPA chief and Cabinet secretary, has left the administration to work on global warming regulations around the world and run for president of the United States. He's still frequently touted as Schwarzenegger's closest environmental advisor, and he just finished a book about the dangers of oil consumption, "Lives Per Gallon," which he is promoting on a book tour.
Tamminen is, er, eclectic to say the least. Amid his environmental efforts, he's found time to update his "Ultimate Guide to Pool Maintenance." The 3rd edition - just released, seven years after the 2nd edition - has "information on the latest technology and equipment, together with Quick Start Guides and difficulty ratings for each procedure," according to Amazon.
Tamminen was the owner and operator of a pool and spa service in Los Angeles, and he founded Santa Monica Bay Keeper and the San Diego Bay Keeper. He also is the author of "The Ultimate Guide to Spas and Hot Tubs," and "The Ultimate Guide to Above-Ground Pools."
The green technology movement has prompted one man to rig
up a lawn mower with propane power and drive it 3,000 miles toward
Sacramento in hopes of meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Matt Land, who is
rambling from Indiana to Los Angeles to Sacramento, has offered to mow the lawn at the
Capitol or Schwarzenegger's house upon arrival. Land said he decided to "Clean Cut Across America" after hearing Schwarzenegger talk about alternative fuels on TV.
Schwarzenegger popularized one gigantic machine - the Hummer - through a years-long love affair. And now he says machines can save the planet - if they are efficient and clean enough.
In several speeches over the past few months, Schwarzenegger has said the environmental movement should sex itself up by embracing new technologies such as the electric Tesla Roadster he recently ordered, or biofuels cars, or more water-efficient washing machines, and cleaner cars. He said we don't have to be Buddhist monks to save the planet.
Not everyone is convinced that global warming can be reversed through cool machines.
Environmentalist James Murray says Schwarzenegger's message comes at exactly the right moment, when being green has a young, ethusiastic demographic, finds itself "centered on new technologies and innovation which is
inherently glamorous," involves ethical behavior currently in vogue, and "has access to the
arguably greatest aphrodisiac of them all – money." But: "While this 'technology will save us' message makes for great political oratory it is a recipe for long term climatic disaster. Schwarzenegger is right that the development of green technologies are likely to deliver more environmental benefits than prohibitionist regulatory measures – but why does it have to be an either or equation? [Snip.]
"There is a danger inherent to this approach of reassuring people and businesses that they do not have to make fundamental changes, because failing to face up to the fact that certain products and behaviours are simply unsustainable will only make it harder for politicians to push through the necessary changes when they realise we are not reducing carbon emissions fast enough to stabilise the climate.
"For example, Schwarzenegger has publicly vowed to support the Hummer and the SUV by claiming that biofuels or hydrogen cells can make them environmentally friendly, but where does he go if, as many scientists believe, biofuels are proved to be more environmentally damaging than conventional fuels or hydrogen cells fail to make the transition from the lab to the production line?"
Many environmentalists believe that a rapid and dramatic drop in consumption is the only way to reduce the high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Turn off lights, stop driving, use public transportation, build fewer roads. Indeed, the efforts by General Motors to convert one of Schwarzenegger's Hummers into a hybrid proved difficult. The Tesla Roadster the governor touted has a much smaller range - 200 miles, compared to 250 - than originally billed by the company. He wants to spend billions on more roads.
(Photos: GM; Fred Prouser/Reuters)
 The New York Observer on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new global warming plan for New York:
"The presentation was launched with a taped introduction of the Mayor by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in which he called Mr. Bloomberg an 'environmental warrior' and his 'soul mate.' Mr. Bloomberg then strode down an aisle between the chairs from the back of the room. African drumbeats pounded through the speakers and bright lights illuminated his walk to the podium, which skirted two giant television screens and billboards displaying PlaNYC-inspired art drawn by PS215 students in Brooklyn."
* * *
The donkey race: Heading into the weekend Democratic convention, Steve Maviglio handicaps the speakers. Barack Obama has "the most to lose," Hillary Clinton "is never going to woo the kind of Democrat that has 14 anti-Bush bumper stickers on the back of their Prius," and John Edwards "hasn't done a helluva lot here in comparison to the other two frontrunners. But this is as good a time as ever to make his move." Majority Report.
(Photo: Office of Mayor Bloomberg.)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is continuing his foreign policy campaign, bypassing the federal government to help set international agreements on global warming, while a longtime friend and environmental advisor, Terry Tamminen, is consulting with the Canadian government about their carbon dioxide regulations.
In anticipation of Schwarzenegger's trip to Canada next month, British Columbia announced yesterday it would participate in a five-state Western carbon market where polluters can trade credits with greener companies. The idea is to have four or five Canadian provinces, and perhaps Mexico as well, joining the pact with California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Arizona.
Schwarzenegger also has signed a nonbinding agreement with Manitoba Premier Gary Doer to coordinate greenhouse gas efforts. The memorandum of understanding - signed like a peace treaty in Schwarzenegger's Santa Monica office - also expresses Manitoba's interest in joining the carbon market. To bolster his case, Schwarzenegger recently wrote Doer reminding him that the National Commission on Energy Policy in Canada has recommended that the U.S. government adopt a "California-like" low-carbon fuel standard.
In addition, Tamminen told a Canadian newspaper, several Australian states are expected to join the carbon-trading arena and that Schwarzenegger is hoping Mexico will enter as well. Tamminen, who left the administration last year to promote his new book on oil
consumption, has advised B.C. Premier
Gordon Campbell on setting up a
climate change action team there.
"By the time the next U.S. president is in power, an international
global trading market in carbon credits will be a reality," Tamminen told the Vancouver Sun. "This is essentially a progressive state and province doing something
about climate change despite having somewhat recalcitrant federal
governments."
When he visits the U.K. in September, expect Schwarzenegger to highlight his agreement with Prime Minister Tony Blair allowing California and the British government to share technology, research and "best practices" on curbing global warming. The governor may also head to John Muir's hometown in Scotland, Dunbar, which is not far from where Schwarzenegger is speaking to a conservative party convention. Schwarzenegger recently put Muir in the California Hall of Fame.
(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"We came to this country to make sure Caucasians had salad." - comedian Paul Rodriguez, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger's showed up yesterday at the announcement of a California Latino Water Coalition, a group of mayors and other officials pushing for more dams. The governor, who was not involved in creating the group, seemed a little apprehensive about injecting race into the state's never-ending fight over water. He made only one comment about Latinos at the Latino event and then quickly shifted to a broader theme - everybody cares about water.
"Now, the Latino community, we all know, contributes so much to our state. And as Paul has said, they have a big stake in our water future, because it doesn't matter if you are Latino or if you are not, or if you are African American, whatever, everyone needs water."
And state Sen. Dave Cogdill, the Modesto Republican who has introduced a $6 billion bond for more water storage projects, deferred entirely at the event: "It's my honor now at this point to introduce someone that can tell you exactly what this resource means to their community. It's a good friend of mine, Mayor Victor Lopez from the community of Orange Cove."
In the audience, supporters of Cogdill's $6 billion bond held signs that read, "Agua es trabajo" and "Agua es el futuro."
Mayor Lopez, whose orange-growing town is almost completely Latino, said water storage is important because we must "be worried about the future of the farm workers. I have to be worried about the future of my children, of your children, of your grandchildren and my grandchildren, but most important, we must protect the food basket of the world." Lopez recently toured the Friant Dam to promote more water storage as well.
Lopez is correct, of course. But his Latino Water Coalition seems entirely designed to divide Democratic leaders in the Legislature on race. In the Spanish-language press, comedian Rodriquez said Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez was opposed to dams because environmentalists "paid him
to." Nunez spokesman Richard Stapler said Rodriguez should keep his day
job. For his part, Senate leader Don Perata (pictured with Schwarzenegger) has said he opposes the creation of new dams and instead supports, for example, increasing storage at Lake Mead: "We can do this now and get real benefits without
creating massive new debt."
Cogdill's legislation is expected to be held indefinitely in a Senate committee today, as negotiations continue over water politics. But the choice was made yesterday: If you don't support dams, you don't
support Latinos - children and grandchildren included.
(Photo: William Foster/Office of Gov. Schwarzenegger;
Steve Yeater/AP)
Tesla Motors - the Silicon Valley designer of an electric car that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently ordered for himself - now says the range for its Roadster is about 200 miles - not 250 miles. From his Brentwood house, Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver could take a day trip to Bakersfield and back without refueling. The first Tesla is planned to be delivered by the end of the year.
A few things on the Web this morning:
Erotic politics: Hugh Hefner, founder of the erotic magazine Playboy
and well known promoter of hedonism, has given thousands of dollars to
Democrats, but his two favorites, according to the web site Capitol
Alert, are Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and California
Attorney General Jerry Brown – both of whom claim to be Catholics. California Catholic.
Greenhouse regulations: Californians would have to buy cleaner gasoline and more efficient lightbulbs and face a new ban on a chemical that mechanics use to
replenish air conditioners in cars under the first proposals aimed at
meeting the state's landmark law to reduce greenhouse gases. State regulators on Friday released a list of changes that could be implemented by 2010 to begin California's march toward its
2020 global warming target. The list - and the reaction it garnered -
previewed what will likely be years of wrangling among regulators and
interest groups. SF Chronicle.
'Raise the gas tax:' L.A. transportation officials are moaning about Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's plan to seize transit revenues they think rightfully
belong to them. The ultimate victims of the governor's budgetary shell
game will be transit riders. Yet the real problem is with the state's
mechanism for transit funding. Given the ugly system he inherited,
Schwarzenegger is doing the right thing. LAT editorial.
Earth Day car: Sunday's "Pimp My Ride" gets a bit serious in an Earth Day special featuring a biodiesel muscle
car. The Earth Day show — with a special introduction by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger — is all about reaching out to an audience of
20-to-30-year-olds with a message disguised as entertainment. LAT.
More dams: Conservation alone won't meet the state's needs for residents or farmers. The state needs to be able to hold onto more of the precipitation that falls on the state and be able to deliver it to when and where it is needed to serve the growing population. California needs more water storage, better levees and an expanded distribution network. It's time to start building more than houses and strip malls. It's time to build more reservoirs and stronger flood control measures. Capital Press AG website.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has been going through Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's laundry. Today, the Illinois senator and presidential candidate outlines an environmental plan that would require automobile fuel to contain less carbon dioxide. He says it would take the equivalent of 32 million cars off the road.
"This is our generation's moment to save future generations from global catastrophe by creating a market for clean-burning fuels that can stop the dangerous transformation of our climate," Obama said in prepared remarks, planned for Friday at the University of New Hampshire.
Schwarzenegger, pictured below next to California's Recycle Rex mascot, issued an executive order
this year saying that all fuels in the state contain lower carbon
content. The goal is to reduce carbon intensity of California's
passenger vehicle fuels by 10 percent by 2020.
The Obama campaign
said its effort would take that plan nationally. Specifically, Obama
wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars by 5% in 2015 and 10% in 2020, the AP reported.
 Obama arrives back in California on Saturday to speak at the California Democratic Party state convention in San Diego. He'll be there the same day as his rival, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, whose speech was switched from Sunday to Saturday.
Meanwhile, the California League of Conservation Voters on June 1 is honoring business leaders who are "revolutionizing the marketplace and calling for a national agenda on climate change." Honorees include Gov. Phil Angelides and Gov. Steve Westly.
(Photo:
Morry Gash/AP)
Environmental journalist David Roberts, writing on Huffington Post, has some advice for all the green sourpusses who can't stomach that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the environmental movement.
Roberts wants hard-core environmental activists - the ones who have toiled in the field for decades - to cheer up and get some self esteem. The fact that an over-sized Republican figure such as Schwarzenegger has embraced their cause means they have something meaningful to say. He adds:
"We constantly worry about whether people deserve to speak
out about the environment, whether impure spokespeople will tarnish the
movement, whether offering people too-easy personal solutions will
anesthetize or stupefy them, whether passing imperfect legislation will
forever exhaust our political capital. As I've said before,
these are the worries and preoccupations of people accustomed to being
losers - people who don't believe their cause is broadly compelling."
He makes a good catch from those audiotapes of private meetings in the governor's office that were released earlier this year. In a discussion with his staff about an environmental speech, Schwarzenegger reveals his own apprehension about being labeled the Green King. He doesn't even call himself an environmentalist. Schwarzenegger: "Before I was governor I was both a
businessman and an environmentalist, because here I was driving
Hummers. I don't know if I leave myself open here by calling myself an
environmentalist. So we should just be aware of that, if that --
Staffer:
You talked in that speech a year ago about growing up in Austria and
the beautiful mountains and everything else
Schwarzenegger: Because I'm environmentally conscious, rather than an
environmentalist. It's just too strong. [Emphasis added.]
Staffer: Yeah. Environmentally conscious.
Staffer:
Say an environmentalist with a Hummer.
Schwarzenegger: Exactly.
(Photo: Shawn Thew/EPA)
 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's interview with Sean Hannity on "Hannity's America" included another funny example of conservative commentators expressing skepticism about whether humans contribute to global warming, while simultaneously ridiculing one particular human for ... contributing to global warming.
The Republican governor's interview with Hannity concluded a week-long orgy of national media coverage over Schwarzenegger's environmental record. The exchange: HANNITY: We have shown for example on our program a list of scientists that dispute that this is a man-made condition. The science is not perfect yet. So should we wait until we fully and completely understand what impact the human experience is having on global temperatures before we make radical choices or decisions?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, let me just tell you, the majority, a huge majority of scientists have come out and made it very clear that we are creating the global warming.
HANNITY: I am not denying the Earth's temperature doesn't change but to the extent that man is responsible, I think, is an issue that is quite in dispute in the scientific community. [Snip.]
HANNITY: You said in one interview that you are deeply impressed with former Vice President Al Gore particularly on this environment. I have been particularly hard for him. I'll tell you why.
He's out there in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" he has a list of ways people should change their life, that they should walk, they should ride bicycles and take light rail and get in buses, et cetera. Meanwhile we have done a background investigation into his life. He has a huge carbon footprint to use his words. He does travel around in private jets. He does have a house where he uses 20 times, one of his three or four homes, 20 times the amount of electricity than the average American. Shouldn't he stop polluting the planet instead of these phony, let-me-purchase carbon offsets?" [Emphasis added.]
 Maybe it's just about hypocrisy in general and not global warming. But Gore is only being hypocritical if you believe man-made carbon dioxide contributes to global warming. If you don't, what's the problem with Gore riding around in jets? And Schwarzenegger for that matter. I suspect the governor--with multiple, weekly private jet rides, an SUV caravan and two mansions--has a far bigger carbon footprint than Gore, but he wasn't confronted about this.
The governor diplomatically brought it up himself. Schwarzenegger said focusing on how much a public figure contributes to global warming is fair game. "But I don't think you should crucify someone like that, because if he does so much good and inspiring people and changes millions and millions of people to drive with clean cars and inspires millions of people to use less energy, less water and all of those things but in the meantime maybe he drives the bigger car, I think it is some what of an unfair thing to go and attack him. Yes there is a hypocrisy, absolutely."
UPDATE: Schwarzenegger's plan to build more dams for water storage could increase global warming emissions, according to a Stanford study reported in the Bee. Greenhouse gases "will be released when cement is made for the dam, when the dam is under construction, and when the land behind it is flooded, causing vegetation to rot, which releases carbon dioxide and methane into the air."
(Photos: Paramount Classics via AP; Edouard H.R. Gluck/AP)
Even though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech this week at Georgetown University would be considered one of his best - lively, engaging, positive - there was something unsettling about the gushing praise for the governor at a conference sponsored by a news magazine. It seemed a bit odd that the editor who introduced the governor would be log-rolling like that: putting the governor on the cover, allowing him a high-profile platform, praising his environmental efforts, selling magazines.
Nevertheless, I'm happy to report the journalism world is still filled with depressing killjoys. As anyone who has followed Schwarzenegger knows, he's a lot of sizzle and a bit of steak sometimes. With that in mind, a few people are looking skeptically at the governor's environmental record during his triumphant green week.
Today, my colleague Peter Nicholas quotes environmentalists saying the governor's record actually is "mediocre" at best. George F. Will at the Washington Post today says that Schwarzenegger's greenhouse gas efforts will reduce worldwide carbon emissions by only 0.3%. And over at the Santa Monica Mirror, writer Tom Elias finds Schwarzenegger a bit hypocritical because his representative on the State Lands Commission voted in favor of a new LNG terminal off the coast of Ventura County (illustrated below), even though the governor hasn't officially made up his own mind. Elias writes: 
"The only way to get it here is via importing terminals that can't help producing vast amounts of carbon dioxide gas. So it's essentially not possible to be for LNG and against greenhouse gases at the same time.
Which makes some see Schwarzenegger as a greenhouse gas hypocrite of the highest order who tries to hide it by claiming he has so far taken no position on any specific LNG plan – even though his surrogate has."
I dunno, just a minor side note: Why should we insist on absolute perfection from anyone? That doesn't seem to be how life works. Take, for example, vegetarians. Meat-eaters may love to ridicule vegetarians for, say, wearing leather shoes. Isn't that hypocritical, since animals are being killed for a fashion statement? But the point seems to be forward movement - making positive progress at any level.
Nevertheless, the governor's contradictions do need to be revealed at every step, if only to keep him focused on the steak.
(Photos: Stefan Zaklin/EPA; BHP-Billiton-LNG International)
 "What I'm saying to Michigan is, 'Michigan, get off your butt and join us.' " - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking to students at Georgetown University about environmental technology.
In his speech, Schwarzenegger fashioned himself as the savior of the sputtering auto industry in Detroit, where a congressman has erected a billboard reading: "Arnold to Michigan - Drop Dead" for the governor's support of global warming restrictions. Schwarzenegger said that "California may be doing more to save U.S. automaker than anyone else. ... I believe strongly in American technology, and I think in the end it will be technology that will ultimately save Detroit."
The subtext to this story involves Rep. Joe Knollenberg, the Republican congressman who erected the billboard amid what could be a tough reelection fight, and Knollenberg's chief of staff, Trent Wisecup. He used to work for Schwarzenegger as a political consultant but now something has snapped and he's directly targeting his old boss. In an e-mail, Wisecup dismissed Schwarzenegger's comments:  The "great irony in this story is that Arnold won in large part in 2003 recall because Gray Davis signed the car tax into law, which if my memory serves me correct, was no more than 1,000 bucks. The job-killing regs he's pushing on the auto industry would raise the average cost of cars and trucks by $6,000. So now Arnold's for a $6,000 car tax? I wonder what the farmers in the Central Valley would think about that."
Wisecup said the U.S. auto industry already spends $16 billion on research and development, and the solution is more research into alternative fuels. Of course, California was headed in that direction last year with Proposition 87, which would have taxed oil producers to fund $4 billion in alternative fuels research. Schwarzenegger opposed the measure - it was a tax increase - but now proudly touts his biofuels Hummer, for example. With premium gas now around $4 a gallon, approving Prop. 87 likely would never have been noticed by the average driver.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking at Georgetown University, gave one of his more engaging speeches today about the environment. The lecture, sponsored by Newsweek magazine, focused on the green revolution sweeping the United States. The speech was classic Schwarzenegger: all about forward movement and staying positive.
Once, he said, environmentalists "were no fun. They were like prohibitionists at the fraternity party." But things have changed, he said, and environmentalism is part of the Establishment, with critical mass and confidence. Schwarzenegger said "for too long the environmental movement has been powered by guilt. But I believe this is about to switch over to be powered by something much more positive."
As proof, Schwarzenegger said he went to a magazine store this morning and found nine cover stories about green technology, including in Town and Country. "I feel things tipping," he said. "I feel things moving forward."
Thursday, Schwarzenegger gives a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, and tapes interviews with Charlie Rose, "Good Morning America," and Fox's Hannity and Colmes.
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore - the China-hating, novel writing, constant blogging, gung-ho Republican National Guard officer from Orange County - is scheming to write legislation that would divide Democrats along racial lines. In the OC Register today, columnist Frank Mickadeit writes about attending a conference of Republican lawyers at Chapman Law School last week:  "Assemblyman Chuck DeVore told the group how even as a member of the minority party in the Legislature, he's trying to be relevant. He's working a bill that would suspend the California Environmental Quality Act for five years for low-income housing, farm-worker housing and urban infill projects.
"The strategy, he said, is to split the Democrats in the Legislature into two factions: the black and Latino caucuses, which favor the bill because it would reduce housing costs 10-20 percent for constituents, and what he called 'the white, urban limousine liberals,' who oppose lowering environmental standards.
" 'I'm purposefully eff-ing with them,' DeVore said."
Mickadeit walked up to DeVore after the meeting and asked if maybe the Orange County lawmaker was being a tad cynical. Apparently unaware a reporter was in the audience, DeVore "turned even whiter than a limousine liberal," he writes. DeVore said the legislation is valid, since he does oppose CEQA standards.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from a weeklong vacation in Maui, has left California for two days of politicking focused on the environment in Washington D.C. and Manhattan.
 His first stop is an informal meeting tonight with Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff - to smoke a few cigars. The rest of his trip is devoted to curbing harmful emissions.
In the morning, Schwarzenegger heads to the office of EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson to request a waiver to implement California's tough tailpipe emissions standards. Those regulations, approved by Gov. Gray Davis before he left office, have been on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the EPA's authority to regulate global warming emissions. That decision came last week, and California now wants its waiver approved "as soon as
possible," said the governor's press secretary, Aaron
McLear.
After that, Schwarzenegger heads to his wife's alma mater, Georgetown University, for a speech on global warming sponsored by Newsweek magazine. Schwarzenegger invited Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to appear so they could share credit for AB32, the carbon dioxide regulations approved last year. Another speaker at the conference, evangelical lobbyist
Rev. Richard Cizik, has come under fire by some members of the National Association of
Evangelicals for his outspoken efforts on global warming.
Then, another meeting with Sen. Dianne Feinstein about water policy and fuel efficiency standards. After that, a private dinner in New York with Gov. Eliot Spitzer. On Thursday, an afternoon speech at the Council on Foreign Relations on the environment, and then a fundraising dinner with media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.
(Photo: Ben Margot/AP)
Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's team of senior environmental advisors ended a trip to Europe with executives from Chevron, PG&E and other corporations. The trip was designed to study Europe's efforts to curb global warming, but it also spotlighted how the Schwarzenegger administration sometimes deals with the companies it regulates.
It's called "constructive engagement" - treating corporations under regulatory control as partners rather than enemies to be beaten into submission. The agency that regulates California workplaces, Cal-OSHA, often relies on cooperative agreements with company owners rather than threats of huge fines to improve conditions. CalPERS also has attempted to use its tremendous wealth to coax rogue states into ending human rights abuses.
But now, there is more criticism over an agreement between the University of California and BP, the oil-producing giant. BP has committed to spending $500 million on alternative fuels research at UC Berkeley. Jennifer Washburn with the New America Foundation says it's a bad deal that "dispenses with numerous traditional safeguards designed to protect
the university's independence. It grants BP unusual control over the
institute's research agenda, makes no mention of peer review, downplays
commercial conflicts of interest and contains provisions on publication
that would violate UC's written policies." "As such, the alliance would undermine the university's academic
freedom, its ability to perform independent research and broadly
disseminate results. And, possibly, it might undermine the public's
trust. ... In short, for $500 million, the
plan would allow BP, a company valued at $250 billion, to turn an
academic research institute into its own profit-making subsidiary."
Schwarzenegger (shown with Ross Pillari, president of BP America in 2006) has done several events that have burnished BP's image as environmentally conscious. The UC agreement, announced by Schwarzenegger on Feb. 1, could provide a cautionary note as regulators begin implementing global warming legislation under AB 32. California business has a huge stake in the regulations, and just how embedded they become with government will be closely watched.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger is continuing his PR tour on global warming. He will appear on the April 22 episode of MTV's "Pimp My Ride," which transformed a 1965 Chevy Impala to run on pure
biodiesel. (Schwarzenegger converted one of his Hummers to biodiesel as well.) The Impala was turned into "an
extraordinary 800 horsepower biodiesel 'Clean Machine' that achieves 25 mpg," MTV announced today.
(Photo: Paul Buck/EPA)
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
will be the keynote speaker at Newsweek's Global Environmental Leadership
conference on Wednesday at Georgetown University, the magazine announced. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez are scheduled to speak as well. Schwarzenegger is expected to be on the cover of Newsweek or prominently featured in the magazine as well. The April 16 issue, which hits newsstands Monday, focuses on environmental policy.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger is kind of a - he is a Republican Al Gore,
if you will." - Michigan Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Republican, on Fox News.
Knollenberg, who represents the Detroit area, told Neil Cavuto that Schwarzenegger has the same attitude as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Barbara Boxer and others who want to increase fuel efficiency standards and emission controls on cars - costing the auto industry $85 billion, he claims. "That would put
them out of business. That's the thing we're trying to stop."
The Michigan congressman has erected a billboard in his district - invented by a former Schwarzenegger campaign advisor now working for Knollenberg - that reads, "Arnold to Michigan: Drop Dead." This week, Knollenberg's hometown newspaper suggests the Michigan congressman is running scared and using Schwarzenegger as a foil. He told the Free Press that Democrats "put a target right on my back." Bill Ballenger, who publishes the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said about Knollenberg: "It sounds like Rip Van Winkle just woke up" and realized his congressional seat was vulnerable.
Salon points out that Knollenberg "is on a mission to do as much damage to the world as he can. In 1998 and 1999, Knollenberg attached a rider known as 'the
Knollenberg amendment' to congressional budget appropriation bills.
It's purpose: preventing any government agency from doing anything
that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions, to the point of even
forbidding the EPA from holding educational seminars about climate
change."
Business interests, including the California Chamber of Commerce, have formed a new coalition and launched a website focused on the state's new global warming law. The approach is very much like a political campaign - even though the law has been signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Air Resources Board is preparing regulations.
The campaign is being run by Woodward & McDowell, the political PR firm, which made sure to include a peaceful photograph of orange poppies on the coalition website. But implementation of the global warming law won't be a walk in the meadow. A marathon fight is expected over the creation of a marketplace where companies can trade credits for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
The business group wants swift action on the ARB regulations, "scientific review" over how carbon emissions are tracked, lower fees and costs for retrofitting equipment and reducing pollution, and "permit streamlining."
Vince Sollitto, spokesman for the Chamber, said fight over the legislation is "far from over. ... The stakes in California getting this right are huge and the route California will take is far from set or certain. Now that AB 32 is law, our coalition ... believes the governor's market-based approach is the correct way to implement this law."
Maybe now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has someone he can support for president. The Republican governor has said he probably won't make an endorsement in the GOP primary, but one of his closest friends is running on an "anti-establishment" ticket.
Terry Tamminen, the Malibu pool-cleaning expert and environmental activist who was Schwarzenegger's cabinet secretary, has launched an independent campaign for president.
Tamminen, who also served as the first Cal-EPA secretary under Schwarzenegger, is currently touring Canada and the U.S. promoting his new book, "Live Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction." He left the administration last summer. Something tells me his presidential campaign is a tongue-in-cheek way to promote book sales, but whatever - it's a democracy.
If elected, Tamminen would "apologize to the world and get out of Iraq immediately," and he would "apologize to the families of the 100,000 people who die prematurely" from disease related to oil consumption. In addition, his administration would end oil subsidies and spend $20 billion a year to replace diesel buses with cleaner transportation. And he would allow government employees to work fours days a week if they volunteer on the fifth day to perform community service.
"In the meantime, look for me in New Hampshire and Iowa perfecting my baby-kissing techniques," Tamminen wrote recently on Grist. "And if you think you can do better, why not tell the world by declaring your candidacy and setting out a platform of your own?"
Tamminen is shown above on the left, standing with state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, the governor, and actor Clint Eastwood at an ocean-protection event. Tamminen, who is registered decline-to-state, emailed Political Muscle from the book tour: "By the way, the response here in Canada is great, so if we can annex a few
provinces before November of 2008, I'm a shoo-in!"
(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
In a victory for California, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant and subject to regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. This means a smoother road for California's global warming laws—specifically a tough tailpipe-emission standard signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis and challenged by the Bush administration.
The state has been asking the EPA for authority to limit tailpipe emissions since 2004, but the agency has yet to grant the state a waiver to do so. Several other states have adopted California's tougher rules, which would force auto makers to cut exhaust from cars and light trucks by 25% and from sport utility vehicles by 18%, beginning in 2009.
The Monday decision helps a separate case in Vermont, where the auto industry has sued to overturn those California-based regulations. Trade groups representing the Big Three domestic car companies, Japanese manufacturers and other international corporations say they want to avoid a multitude of possibly conflicting regulations from all 50 states.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement today praising the ruling: "We expect the U.S. EPA to move quickly now in granting our request for a waiver, which will allow California and 13 other states that have adopted our standards to set tougher vehicle emissions levels. And we remain hopeful that the EPA will soon determine, as California has, that vehicle greenhouse gases must be reduced."
(Photo: David McNew/Getty Images)
 "There are people in both parties who don't get it, but I would say I have a tougher time selling those things to the Republicans. --Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a Fortune interview.
Schwarzenegger said global warming regulations give California "an opportunity to create a whole new industry of clean cars and clean engines and components to build those engines. In California, what we call clean-tech industries are exploding left and right."
The governor focused on cement factories. Making cement involves gargantuan industrial equipment that heats minerals up to 2,700 degrees, releasing carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur oxides. It's estimated that cement makers account for 8% of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide--enormous for a single industry.
The governor said cleaner technology could be found in Europe for cement manufacturers. "When we passed our $20 billion infrastructure bonds, we said, 'Let's not build any of those roads without that technology.' We let the cement companies know this: Adopt that technology, and we'll sign contracts with you. We don't want you to suffer; we want you to make money."
(Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images)
Over two days this week in Santa Barbara, the California Climate Action Registry more than doubled attendance at its annual conference. The nonprofit group believes global warming legislation signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and approved by the Democratic Legislature is jump-starting interest in the carbon dioxide emissions registry. The conference was co-hosted by the California Air Resources Board, which was given new powers under the law to regulate global warming emissions.
 By 2012, California could have a market for carbon trading. Which means: "There's money to be made and regulations to be met, and that is why--according to Diane Wittenberg, president of the first U.S. registry of greenhouse gas emissions--the nonprofit group's fifth annual conference on Tuesday and Wednesday was attended by 600 and at least another 100 had to be turned away," Reuters reports. In the European Union, carbon trading has doubled from the previous year, to a market worth $26 billion.
Meanwhile, California is falling victim to foreign pollution that won't be curbed by the state's new law. Monitoring stations on Mount Tamalpais, Donner Summit near Lake Tahoe and Mount Lassen in far Northern California have picked up harmful particles coming from China. About a third of the Asian pollution is dust, which is increasing due to drought and deforestation, the Associated Press reports. The rest is composed of sulfur, soot and trace metals from the burning of coal, diesel and other fossil fuels.
(Photo: Peter Parks / AFP-Getty Images)
Hate seeing those smug hybrid car owners in the diamond lane without any passengers? You're not alone. One man is on eBay selling bright yellow stickers, just like the ones on hybrids, which read: "Access Denied-–California Hasn't Neutered Me."
 Hollywood producer Steve Bing - the real estate heir who spent nearly $40 million on a failed alternative fuels initiative in California last year - says he will yank a $2.5 million donation from Stanford because the university joined forces with ExxonMobil on energy research. An assistant to Bing (pictured) calls it a greenwash - corporations using a respected institution to appear environmentally friendly and possibly threaten the autonomy of researchers.
At the same time, activist John M. Simpson says the University of California must reconsider its $500 million research deal with energy giant BP, recently touted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as an exciting partnership. The Republican governor said allowing an oil company to fund research at a public college means "the private sector has once again recognized the
world-class stature of the University of California."
UPDATE: Robert Reich, the former Clinton labor secretary and a professor at U.C. Berkeley, continues the discussion about the BP-University of California marriage on the Progress Report today. He says researchers must be free to take money from whatever sources they wish, but stressed the potential dangers beyond just the university's reputation: 
Corporate funders may want proprietary rights to whatever is developed and engage in prior restraint on the release of information; the project could be distorted because of the "gravitational pull" of corporate money - the science may head in a direction where researchers can get more funding - and it may force researchers to avoid asking critical questions that may affect the company; and the corporate funder may influence who gets hired for the project.
Reich calls for tough safeguards if a research institution teams up with a company. "The basic reality is that corporations are not charitable
or public institutions," he writes. "They do not exist primarily to advance the
public interest but their investors interests. Almost all corporations
are in intense and intensifying competition for consumers and
investors, and they spend capital for purpose of enhancing their
products and returns to investment."
(Photo:
Chris Jackson / Getty Images; AP)
In his Der Spiegel interview, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said protecting the environment "does not require us to be against large SUVs or trucks. Instead, we should develop technology to cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions because that is where the action is."
Schwarzenegger owns a Hummer that runs on biofuels and smells like French fries when it runs.
In a few months, Schwarzenegger is set to receive a free BMW 7 series luxury sedan that has been converted to hydrogen, his office said. "BMW made 100 of them and they gave them to 100
opinion-makers, stars and people with high visibility," the governor told the magazine. "When those
people drive around it again sells the idea that it is cool to drive a
hydrogen car. But that doesn't mean that you should take this big car
and make it smaller. Instead we should be saying: 'Keep the luxury car!' "
Aaron McLear, spokesman for the governor, said the car will be gifted to the state of California, not Schwarzenegger himself. The governor's office has not decided how it wants to make use of the new BMW, which was introduced during
the 2007 North American International Auto Show in
Detroit in January (pictured).
BMW North America does a limited amount of lobbying in Sacramento, but reported contacting the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Highway Patrol once, on a noncontroversial DMV-related bill. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger meets Thursday in Los Angeles with Gordon Campbell, the premier of British Columbia, to discuss global warming.
(Photo: Rob Widdis / EPA)
 Speaking of religion and politics: Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to "offset" the pollution he creates with carbon credits is sort of like the "Catholic Church practice of selling indulgences to sinners — an activity that prompted Martin Luther's rebellion and the start of the Protestant Reformation. Doling out these offsets like medieval friars is at least one for-profit company and several non-profit organizations."
Both Schwarzenegger, who appears on the April cover of Outside magazine, and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein have been criticized for their frequent use of private jets. They both have offered to purchase carbon offsets to make up for their pollution-spewing lifestyles. But this may do little more than assuage guilt, according to some experts. O'Donnell cites a report from The Netherlands-based Carbon Trade Watch (PDF): "From flights, to four-wheel drives, to (gasoline), carbon offsets provide a false legitimacy to some of the most inherently unsustainable products and services on the  market. What’s more, the costs of this purchasable legitimacy are often largely shunted onto the consumer, who effectively ends up paying for the greenwash. These companies also benefit because offset schemes place more of the focus on the consumers' responsibility for climate change—at the expense of examining the larger, systemic changes that we need to bring about in our industries and economies."
For many, the answer instead is the aggressive conservation of energy - stop using private jets, stop driving SUVs, turn off the lights, take a walk. O'Donnell concludes by saying: "For Feinstein and Schwarzenegger, let's appreciate that they've shown some policy leadership, but also wish that they provided slightly better role models for the rest of us."
(Photo: Reed Saxon / AP)
The billboard by Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, who said
he funded the $10,000 advertising campaign because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is
"a perfect symbol of a bully and because he has become the Republican Al Gore." Knollenberg says Schwarzenegger is tackling global warming the wrong way - at the expense of the auto industry. See post below.
(Photo: Carlos Osorio / AP)
Pastor Bob Cornwall of the First Christian Church of Lompoc likes "Star Trek," Coltrane and Barbara Brown Taylor. And he's not afraid to acknowledge his pagan roots; on his website, Cornwall notes that he is a Pisces. Pastor Bob also is part of a growing movement to shift some Christians, mostly evangelicals, away from their obsession with abortion and gays.
Cornwall says a summit is being planned for this summer between the faith community and the California Democratic Party that will look at "the environment, foreign policy/war,
poverty, health care, and immigration. It's not as if family and
sanctity of life aren't part of the conversation, but they need to be
discussed as part of the broader conversation of moral issues."
Environmentalists, for one, are courting Christians to back their fight against global warming, mostly using God's commandment in Genesis to "have dominion over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves
upon the earth." The Sierra Club has a special liaison with faith communities to preach the gospel of environmentalism. One is Lyndsay Moseley, who pulled out the Bible yesterday and used some Old Testament scare tactics: "The scientists tell us that we have time to avoid the most devastating
impacts of global warming if we begin to act now. Remember the story of
Jonah, who was called to preach the coming destruction of Nineveh? The
people heeded his warning and turned from their ways, repenting and
seeking God's mercy and forgiveness. We, like the people of Nineveh,
can heed the warnings and take steps to be better stewards of the earth
- not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors, our children, and God."
Last fall, scores of churches in California joined a nationwide campaign to show Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" to their congregations. Rev. Dr. Aloha Smith, rector of St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in San Bernardino, told the Press-Enterprise about the event: "God put us in charge. The Bible is very, very clear. We're supposed to take care of it (Earth)."
Evangelicals are struggling with this concept. On March 1 this year, a joint letter written by James C. Dobson (pictured) and two dozen other Christian activists called on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals to muzzle its vice president for government relations, Richard Cizik. They said Cizik has been "using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to fully embrace Christians into his global warming efforts. In his State of the State address, he did say that Californians need to be "good stewards" of their state. That's the most frequently used code word by environmentalists; Christians must be "stewards" of God's earth. But Schwarzenegger had a different context: he was encouraging the Legislature to pass a new infrastructure program, which could actually contribute to global warming by building new freeways.
(Photo: Mark J. Terrill / AP)
A Michigan Congressman has launched a billboard campaign aimed at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his high-profile efforts to curb global warming. Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg, whose district includes suburban Detroit, says government regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase mileage standards for cars will cost the auto industry $85 billion.
Pictured above is a billboard that Knollenberg's campaign committee placed in the Detroit area on Interstate 75, near 6 Mile Road. He's also launched a web site, Big3Defense, which his office said "clearly articulates the threat to the American manufacturing sector of our economy and how we can reduce our consumption of Middle East oil and curb our emissions of C02 without cutting auto jobs and hurting working families."
Knollenberg's seat has been targeted by Democrats, in part because he received only about 51% of the vote in 2006, after spending nearly $3 million in his re-election campaign. He announced in January that he was running for a ninth term.
The congressman's chief of staff, by the way, is Trent Wisecup - who worked for Schwarzenegger on the 2003 recall and for Navigators, the political consulting firm managed in part by Schwarzenegger advisor Mike Murphy. The Knollenberg campaign spent $10,000 on the Detroit billboard and is soliciting $3 donations for additional runs.
The campaign also targets former Vice President Al Gore and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but the first billboard features the Republican California governor. "What we're saying is, 'Not so fast, governor, this is a bad idea,' " Wisecup said. "But the threat is broad-based. ... We all feel a little under siege in Detroit."
Aaron McLear, the govenor's spokesman, responded: "It is unfortunate that this congressman doesn't understand the serious threat our country faces because of greenhouse gas emissions. Gov. Schwarzenegger's leadership is allowing the auto industry to move into the future instead of this kind of backward thinking that will negatively impact job growth and the economy."
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California's Williamson Act, which was designed to protect farmland from development, is under threat in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state budget plan, according to the S.F. Chronicle and The Ethicurean and The Sacramento Bee and Grist and a local Assemblywoman and the Tulare Chamber of Commerce. 
