Pioneers

California, as you've undoubtedly heard, will be passing legislation designed to cap greenhouse gas emissions. The version of the bill adopted appears to be a victory for environmental groups and Democrats, who reportedly met with the Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday and told him that they had the votes to pass their version with or without his support. Facing an upcoming election in a state where four out of five residents believe that urgent action on climate change is needed, the Governor, who recently held an environmental "summit" with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, jumped on the bandwagon.

I'd like to be more excited about this bill. It's the first in the nation to go this far, exceeding even the recent efforts of some Northeastern States, and it's a significant slap in the face to the Bush junta, but I'm afraid that it's still too little, too late.

The bill provides for a two-year period in which a state agency (whose members are appointed by the governor) will measure carbon emissions from every major pollution source in California, including power plants, oil refineries, and cement kilns. State regulators will then set limits for each polluter; those limits, however, do not begin to become effective until 2012, and, even then, there could be an extension in the case, for example, of serious economic harm. The limits on greenhouse gas emissions would become gradually more stringent, with the goal being a reduction by 2020 only to 1990 levels -- when such emissions were already way too high to be sustainable. The bill contains one element that Mr. Schwarzenegger had wanted: a "market" that will allow the purchase, sale, and trade of emission credits.

As the NYT reported: Ralph Cavanagh, the co-director of the energy program of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a telephone interview: "This is not an act of altruism. This is an act of enlightened self-interest. By accelerating the effort to reduce global warming pollution, California will benefit its own economy and environment and in so doing will set the best possible example for other states and nations." Mr. Cavanagh is correct. As NYT also noted: Aside from its long coastline, which could be vulnerable to sea-level rises due to global warming, the state depends on the Sierra Nevada snow pack for much of its water. A study in 2004 by the National Academy of Science showed that unchecked global warming would cut the size of the snow pack by at least 29 percent by the end of the century. It also predicted a doubling in the number of heat waves, like the record-breaking one in July that killed 139 people statewide. As I recently reported, this Summer's intense heatwave killed people in California.

The reaction to the bill was interesting in a very retro/metro kind of way. Republicans, other than the Governor, opposed the bill. The Chamber of Commerce opposed the bill and oil companies, according to the LAT, were irate and said they felt abandoned by the republican governor, who had pledged to work for a bill they could support. They accused Schwarzenegger and Democrats of cobbling together behind closed doors a haphazard bill that could create unintended economic chaos." However, as the NYT noted, leading venture capitalists from Silicon Valley openly stump[ed] for [the bill's] passage, saying the measure will create new industries and new jobs.

It's a start. I hope it works and that it encourages other states to take even more stringent measures. I hope it also shows Republicans that protecting the planet isn't a "liberal" issue. Businesses, one of the Republicans' "bases," can and do support measures that protect our planet, at least those businesses that can look beyond the way that they've always done things and see the opportunities. We need both parties to get behind the environment. This is the only planet we've got.

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P.S. NRDC is touting this as a very big win. Here's a bit from their e-mail: Co-sponsored by NRDC and Environmental Defense, this breakthrough bill will put a market-based system in place that provides incentives to businesses to comply with the new law and, just as important, that compliance will be closely monitored.

I don't have to tell you that old-line polluting industries fought this bill tooth and nail. But thanks to your support, NRDC spearheaded a new and exciting coalition of clean-tech companies, venture capitalists, local governments, faith-based leaders and tens of thousands of citizens that won the day.

California's leaders saw the future and it was green. Global warming controls won't just be great for the environment, they will be great for the state's economy. This bill will allow California to start breaking its expensive dependence on fossil fuels and lead a revolution in energy technology that will create tens of thousands of jobs.

Who can doubt that other states will soon be racing to follow suit? A decade from now, we'll look back at this historic agreement as the turning point in America's long-overdue reckoning with catastrophic climate change.

So mote it be.