The future the California economy will be in limbo for decades should AB 32 be signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger. The effort to save us from global warming (an unfortunate name that conveys images of the holidays and family sitting around a ‘warm’ toasty fireplace) the Democratic-led legislature and Democratic-led Governor’s office will seriously damage California’s chance to be competitive in the global economy.
The goal: reduce green-house gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020
Today’s LA Times article gives some good background of the bill. Often quoted Claremont McKenna College government professor Jack Pitney claims that Schwarzenegger has effectively taken yet another issue away from Angelides with this move. No argument there from me. But at what cost? Think about how many voters have held their nose and supported this Republican Governor solely because he has worked to make CA more hospitable to jobs. They not only have a diminished reason to do so now, but more to the point, they may not be employed in the state for much longer.
The Wall Street Journal’s article today delves a bit deeper into some of the motivations behind the legislation.
Who pushed the Governor over the top? According to the Journal, perhaps it was the Silicon Valley executives that paid him a visit and noted their support for the legislation. This shouldn’t surprise us since most of their high-tech manufacturing is being done in China and India. I wonder if in the Yunnan Province, The Honorable Governor Xu Rongkai will follow suit on local emissions controls.
The California Air Resources Board will have some time to come up with the plan. There is talk of a new set of pollution credits that could be traded. Conceptually this would be a good idea over outright output limits on all facilities because some like older power plants would be nearly impossible to retro-fit.
What no one has mentioned in detail yet however is the great incentive this legislation gives to nuclear energy. If you can’t burn coal or oil to power your factory or power plant, there really are not many alternative reliable options. Solar power and the energy harnessed from the lunch-time use of the exercise bikes in the company gym just won’t cut it.
So perhaps the Governor and his Democratic friends in the legislature just might want to look at the unintended consequences before they pull the trigger on this one.
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