Environmental Law

Schwarzenegger: Next Stop, the World

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

Love him or not, no one could really accuse California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of thinking small.

Schwarzenegger, answering questions before a friendly audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Friday, was asked by moderator Greg Dalton for his thoughts on how the recent development of regional market-based systems to control greenhouse gas emissions might translate into a national program.

The question didn't come out of nowhere. By way of background, the Northeast's 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative just the other day launched the nation's first auction of mandatory carbon dioxide emissions permits for power plants. Meanwhile, the Western Climate Initiative, a partnership of states and Canadian provinces, unveiled its own plan for an even broader cap-and-trade program. Cap and trade programs generally combine mandatory limits on emissions with the sale of permits -- also known as credits or allowances -- to produce a set amount of pollution.

But Schwarzenegger, in his reply, made it clear he wasn't satisfied with such efforts. A national system "will happen as time goes on," he said, but he suggested his vision was much more global:

"I mean, I think that the important thing is we create an international system. They have a cap-and-trade system in Europe. We are now creating it all over the United States ... So that everyone can get linked together, that is the idea. Because I think there is so much potential there with cap-and-trade." 

Schwarzenegger, whose visit to the gathering commemorated the pending second anniversary of his signing of the state's groundbreaking measure to reduce greenhouse gases, AB 32, linked his support for a broad market system to his concern for businesses that are faced with potentially expensive burdens to reduce their carbon footprint. They should have "a chance to trade with someone else," he said. 

Along similar internationalist lines, Schwarzenegger noted the state is hosting a summit conference of governors from around the world in November. 

During formal remarks Friday, Schwarzenegger gave no sign of backing away from the mandates of the state law, despite the current economy. In fact, he said, "The truth is, there is far more economic opportunity in fighting global warming than there is economic risk." He noted that the state agency heading up efforts to implement the law, the California Air Resources Board, recently released an analysis showing billions of dollars in benefits to the state's economy.

He also drew enthusiastic applause when he reiterated his previous promises to "do everything in my power not to expand, but actually to reduce or get rid of offshore drilling."

The response was more muted, however, when he several times mentioned that nuclear power should be looked at as a low-emission generating option.

--Dennis Pfaff of Thelen LLP

Photo: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the United Nations to deliver address on climate change, 2007; Governor's office photo

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on September 26, 2008 (boomark / email).