Environment takes a hit

Last week, the eight partners of the Western Climate Initiative announced a regional goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

“We know California alone cannot stop global warming,” said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, during a media briefing on August 22, noting the state’s goal of reducing emissions 25 percent by 2020.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) positioned California as the poster child for states’ efforts to fight global warming in the absence of federal action. But California’s new budget has some conservation groups worrying that politicians are only paying lip service to the state’s pro-environment agenda.

Environmental-enforcement mechanisms took a hit in the budget after a 52-day impasse with Senate Republicans delaying the vote until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to a list of demands, including a stop to greenhouse-gas-emission lawsuits.

As part of $703 million in spending cuts, the governor cut funding from Attorney General Jerry Brown’s budget in what Gary Patton, executive director of the Planning and Conservation League, called an attempt to make Brown a “toothless tiger” by limiting his ability to pursue climate-related litigation.

“This is what all the oil companies and developers want the government to stop,” Patton said.

On June 21, the California Building Industry Association, Western States Petroleum Association, California Chamber of Commerce and other groups sent a letter to the governor and state Legislature asking that new projects be exempt from requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act, which legally mandates that cities, counties and other agencies analyze the greenhouse-gas emissions of local growth, development and oil-refinery upgrade projects, and implement economically feasible mitigation measures when negative impacts are identified.

The new budget restricts litigants from filing CEQA lawsuits against road and levee projects funded by bonds until 2010, when the state adopts new regulations that specify how parties lessen greenhouse gases from their projects. Brown has not filed any lawsuits against bond-funded projects.

Schwarzenegger also cut funding for recruitment and retention programs for California Department of Fish and Game wardens, who enforce environmental laws out in the field. Low pay and dangerous work conditions have led to people quitting this profession in groves, Patton said.

Democrats met GOP’s demands to remove a trailer-bill requirement that all state buildings built after 2009 meet green building standards. The budget does include research dollars, though significantly less than requested, for a high-speed-rail system in California.