On Friday last week, Governor Schwarzenegger delivered a very important keynote Address at the Yale Climate Change Conference. In his speech, the Governor speaks bluntly and basically tells environmentalists to get out of the way and let important projects that can bring environmental benefits move forward. The Governor states very clearly Democrat’s and environmentalists need to do the right thing and move out of the way:
“But the important point I want to make is that environmental activists and Democrats many times are just as much an obstacle in moving forward. Rhetorically, of course, they love to talk about renewable energy and geothermal and wind all those kind of things. But many times we have seen they are trying to slow down the approval process. It's kind of a schizophrenic behavior. They say that we want renewable energy but we don't want you to put it anywhere, we don't want you to use it.”
In what I see as the second time that the Governor has essentially endorsed the Sunrise Powerlink, the Governor says:
“San Diego Gas & Electric wants to develop solar geothermal fields in Imperial Valley and build 150 miles of transmission lines to go and take this power right into San Diego, but it faces opposition even though it would replace an old carbon based power plant.”
With the Renewable Portfolio Standard requirement looking like a failure (the in state utilities will not meet the 20% renewable energy portfolio requirement by 2010), it seems that the Administration has realized that the emperor wears no clothes and that the real problem in getting to the green future lies at the doorstep of the opposition. The Governor here calls on everyone to again do the right thing:
“So the point I'm making is it's not just businesses that have slowed things down, it's not just Republicans that have slowed things down, it's also Democrats and also environmental activists sometimes that slow things down.”
“So as one of my environmental friends and advisers said: There are no silver bullets, only silver buckshot. We need to find creative ways to overcome those obstacles. There's no two ways about it. Neither business nor environmentalists nor Republicans nor Democrats can be set in their ways. I suggest to them: Relax, exhale, just exhale and relax and let things move forward.”
If you have read my posts on this issue, this will all sound familiar. The Governor is absolutely correct in this instance. If we really want a green future, we all need to “relax and exhale and let things move forward.”
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