Governor to push global warming fight

[FreedomAngel82]

If it's Arnold I'm not going to hold my breath for too long.

Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/17/MNG56HAEPT1.DTL&type=printable

Snip: <Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected this month to release a plan to combat global warming that recommends raising petroleum prices and requiring industries to report, for the first time, their greenhouse gas emissions.

The increase in gas prices would fund research into alternative fuels.

Nine months ago, Schwarzenegger garnered international headlines by calling for California to mount an aggressive effort to address global warming. Now he faces the difficult part: shepherding new policies into place that could affect every car owner, farmer and big industry in the state.

The proposal, drafted by the governor's senior environmental advisers, has both business groups and clean-air advocates girding for a fight in Sacramento that could have profound national environmental and political implications. With President Bush reluctant to steer federal policy toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions, states and cities have taken the lead on what most environmentalists agree is the most critical issue facing the planet.

"What you're considering in California is much broader than anything being discussed in other states -- it's very significant,'' said Ned Helme, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Clean Air Policy, a nonprofit environmental think tank.

For Schwarzenegger, global warming could be a tricky political issue this year.

Sources at the state Environmental Protection Agency -- which is charged with writing the recommendations to achieve Schwarzenegger's goals -- say the proposal will call for a new charge on petroleum equal to less than a penny per gallon of gasoline. Conservative activists have begun to complain about the idea, branding it a gas tax.

The proposal could be released just before the state Republican Convention, which begins Feb. 24, where GOP activists already are preparing to debate resolutions condemning other Schwarzenegger proposals they disagree with. >

More at the link....

[WhiteTara]

1. this is interesting.

Arnold has a democratic crew, maybe he will do something. I am definitely going to call his office and give him an atta boy and tell them I will be looking for actions, not words. Also, less than penny tax? That is not undoable. Oil/gas companies should absorb that tax, but of course they won't.

We should all support the boobengroper on this one. We don't have to vote for him in November, but maybe he is looking for a legacy, maybe he reached an epiphany when the people of Austria turned their backs on him. I don't care what, we have to do something quickly. Immediately. The planet is dying and if we don't move NOW, it is over for our children. Hell, it's over for US! I still have another 40 years of life left in me. But not at the rate we are going.

The birds are dying, the poles are melting, the seas are dying, the lands are desertifying. Weather has gone wild. We have to act in accordance with Kyoto. The U.S. and Australia are the only two countries on the planet that haven't signed on.
:rant:

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Right

Maybe he knows he's not going to "win" again so he's going to do this. It'll be interesting to see how far he gets. I still remember when he hired a democrat girl who was a lesbian and the republicans wanted him to fire her but he didn't. I was very surprised (in a good way).

[soulbrotha]

3. Ridiculous temperature swings

Does anyone live near Toledo, Ohio? I swear I'm not making this up: between last Thursday morning and Friday morning (24 hour period) the temperature went from 18 degrees to 59 degrees and back down to 16 degrees. Again, all of this within a 24 hour period.

Everyone is getting sick because of this climate change. Especially the rapid shifting. I was born some 30 years ago and don't ever remember such dramatic swings in temps.

Why doesn't Bush do more about it? I'm getting sick, my friends and family are getting sick. I'm also having a hard time working, because I'm always sick. I might be okay for a few weeks, but then I'm smacked down for another few weeks. This happens beginning in October and lasts until March or April.

I mean, if this is happening in Ohio, it's happening elsewhere too. I still can't believe it -- 18 to 59 and then back down to 16.

I would move, but why move when, if nothing is done, pretty soon every place will have this happen?