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| World Home » Environment » | Fri. May 16, 2008 |
| Environment |
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Governor Arnold’s reputation may have taken a dent? MIL/NYT, Jul 6, 2007. IRS/Jesse McKinley San Francisco, July 06, 2007 (Friday) - In the last year or so, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — he of the incredible orange perma-tan — has had a remarkably green tint. In September, Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed into law a landmark emissions-reduction measure and then drove a green bus during his easy, breezy re-election campaign. Since then, he has announced that he will buy offsets for his own personal carbon emissions, threatened to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over air quality and appeared on the cover of Newsweek spinning a globe on his finger. “Save the Planet,” the headline read. “Or Else.” But the Governator’s eco-friendly reputation may have taken a dent over the last week in a messy battle over the leadership of the California Air Resources Board, a science-geared agency that has traditionally operated with considerable autonomy, even though its 11 members are political appointees. Its most visible mandate is the nuts and bolts of putting the emissions law, known as AB 32, into effect. The conflict, which resulted in the top two officials leaving the board, raised some environmental eyebrows, especially among those who have admired Mr. Schwarzenegger’s strong-willed approach. “We have schizophrenia here,” said James Marston, a lobbyist for Environmental Defense who worked on passing the emissions law. “Even while we were doing AB 32, the Schwarzenegger administration was a little schizophrenic.” “We’ve got Schwarzenegger and Maria and a few other folks who are very pro-environment,” Mr. Marston said, referring to Maria Shriver, the governor’s wife. “Then we have some folks that are more traditional Republicans in the sense that they see themselves as defenders of the business interests.” V. John White, the executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, echoed that point. “The moves of last week caused damage to the brand of Arnold,” Mr. White said. Some Democrats in Sacramento, the state capital, also seized upon the air board issue to criticize the Schwarzenegger administration’s progress on the emissions law. The State Assembly plans oversight hearings on Friday to investigate the situation and the departure of the two officials on the air quality board. “There’s an obvious difference to what he’s been saying and what his administration and other appointees have been doing,” said Don Perata, a Democrat who is president pro tempore of the State Senate. “There’s some real knuckle draggers over there.” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/us/06arnold.html?th&emc=th
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