12/11/2008 GAAS:825:08 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Print Version |
Gov. Schwarzenegger Praises Air Resources Board for Adopting Scoping Plan
Plan Will Protect Environment, Public Health and Spur Economy
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the below statement
following the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) adoption of its scoping
plan that lays out how California will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to
1990 levels by 2020:
"Adoption of the AB 32 scoping plan is a great moment for
California's environment and for our economy, and it also provides a roadmap
for the rest of the nation to follow. When you look at today's depressed
economy, green tech is one of the few bright spots out there, which is yet
another reason we should move forward on our environmental goals. Estimates
show that California's environmental policies will create hundreds of thousands
of jobs and increase economic production by the billions. Today is the day we
help unleash the full force of California's innovation and technology for a
healthier planet, a stronger and more robust economy and a safer and more
secure energy future."
California's
push to increase renewable energy and fight climate change will also boost our
economy. According to an economic study released in
October by the University of California at Berkeley and Next 10, California's
policies will create as many as 403,000 jobs in the next 12 years and household
incomes will increase by $48 billion. Also in October, the U.S. Conference of
Mayors released its Green Jobs Index which projected
4.2 million jobs by 2038 in the emerging green technology sector, with more
than 500,000 of those jobs in California.
And in
September, CARB released an economic
analysis that compared the costs of doing nothing with the costs of
implementing AB 32, California's
first-in-the-nation law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which showed that
California's law will boost the state's economy by $27 billion and create
100,000 new jobs. CARB also issued a report on the public health impacts which
demonstrated that by 2020, with cleaner air, we will have 300 fewer premature
deaths and 9,000 fewer incidences of asthma and lower respiratory symptoms and
53,000 fewer lost work days.
Governor Schwarzenegger has led California in establishing
laws and policies to protect the environment while growing the economy:
- Last month, the Governor signed an executive order to streamline California's renewable energy project approval process and announced his plans to propose legislative language to expand the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard to 33 percent renewable power by 2020.
- In September, the Governor signed SB 375 by Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), which enhances the state's ability to achieve our AB 32 goals by adding the nation's first law to control greenhouse gas emissions by curbing sprawl.
- In June, the Governor announced a new program that waives the sales tax on investment in new manufacturing equipment for Zero Emission Vehicles. This program was developed in conjunction with the State Treasurer and the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.
- In January 2007, the Governor announced the world's first Low Carbon Fuel Standard for transportation fuels that requires fuel providers to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels sold in California. This first-of-its-kind standard firmly establishes sustainable demand for lower-carbon fuels without favoring one fuel over another. To start, the standard will reduce the carbon intensity of California's passenger vehicle fuels by at least 10 percent by 2020 and more thereafter.
- In August 2006, the Governor signed his Million Solar Roofs Plan into law. Now known as the California Solar Initiative, it will provide 3,000 megawatts of additional clean energy and reduce the output of greenhouse gases by three million tons, equivalent to taking one million cars off the road. The $2.9 billion incentive plan for homeowners and building owners who install solar electric systems will lead to one million solar roofs in California by the year 2018.
