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Saturday, February 04, 2012
Feature: March 2007
Arnold Fights Global Warming
The 10 biggest breakthroughs, bombshells and busts of 2006
Story by Rich Ehisen
If a name could be given to 2006, it should be The Year of Big Moves.
Huge decisions were made last year by business leaders, legislators and even California voters that will move our state and our region in new — and hopefully prosperous — directions.
That’s not to say that all the big deals and decisions took us forward. Some were a step — or three — backward in ways that will have an impact on Sacramento’s landscape for years to come.
The impact of many of this year’s big decisions may not be seen or felt for several years, but that should be taken as good news: It’s much better for a region to make forward-thinking decisions than to react to a crisis at the last minute.
As we breathe cleaner air, drive better roads, live safely behind better levees, enjoy new ways to get from A to B, and benefit from a healthy and diverse economy, we can look back to 2006 as the year that made it all possible.
When Gov. Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 32 this year, California established the first-in-the-world program to significantly reduce greenhouse gases.
Specifically, the bill charges the California Air Resources Board with creating a program to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, effectively reducing these emissions to 1990 levels, by 2020.
The legislation, which can be described as a direct attack on climate change, will certainly benefit the Central Valley, where air quality remains a top concern. From an economic perspective, AB 32 is likely to do for the Sacramento region what the Information Age did for Silicon Valley.
“We’re already seeing a huge influx of established green-technology companies, and I’d estimate we have anywhere from 30 to 50 early-stage startups already,” says Oleg Kaganovich, CEO of the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance.
Most Central Valley industries are unlikely to feel the pinch that will come with regulations to meet the 2020 goal. “AB 32 will certainly impact the largest industries in the state, such as refineries and huge power plants, but we don’t have many operations like that in this area,” says Larry Greene, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.
Individual consumers aren’t likely to see their lifestyles limited either. In fact, the opposite may be true. “Most people will probably notice that reducing emissions gives them more choices,” says BreAnda Northcutt, a spokeswoman for the California Environmental Protection Agency. “They’ll have more options for cars, fuels, light bulbs and other products as more efficient technologies come to market.”
Whether the science behind the concept of global warming is to be believed is still a matter of intense debate. Credible researchers have dug in on both sides, but there’s no denying that the true believers have the best scary stories. As a case in point, the California Climate Change Center issued a report suggesting that, among other concerns, climate change could reduce the Sierra snowpack by 70 to 90 percent by the latter half of this century.
Inconclusive science hasn’t stopped local governments in the region from taking action. The Sacramento Area Council of Governments is developing a Metropolitan Transportation Plan that, according to Greene, could cut the number of miles a family drives each year by 15 percent. Sacramento County has also expressed intent to join the Chicago Climate Exchange and make a binding commitment to reduce emissions by 6 percent by 2010.
“I personally see global warming and climate change as the supreme environmental, social and economic issue of our time,” says Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson. “We must address it successfully or we could face potentially catastrophic circumstances.”
