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February 06, 2008

Schwarzenegger leans green on energy appointment

Environmentalists gained a little more clout over implementation of the state's climate laws yesterday after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was appointing Karen Douglas to the California Energy Commission.

Douglas, currently director of the California Climate Initiative for Environmental Defense, was a key advocate for both Assembly Bill 32 and Senate Bill 1368 -- laws passed in 2006 to regulate greenhouse emissions.

The Energy Commission, created by a 1974 law signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan, conducts research, promotes energy efficiency and issues licenses for new power plants. With a current-year budget of $417 million, it has influence over various programs aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions 25 percent by 2020. It also has been a target of some Republican budget cutters, who in the past have proposed eliminating the CEC or folding its functions into other agencies.

Douglas' appointment is notable for several reasons: 1) It marks another time that Schwarzenegger has appointed a registered Democrat to a key environmental position. 2) It gives the conservation lobby "one of their own" on a commission that lacked a bonafide environmentalist. 3) It comes amid increasing skeptism that the state can meet its AB 32 targets in the face of population growth and other trends.

One big challenge: People are increasingly moving into hotter, inland areas of California to find cheaper housing, as the chart here shows. That requires more air conditioning and more demand on the grid, even as the state tries to phase out imports of electricity generated by coal-powered plants -- the goal of SB 1368.

And of course, if scientific projections prove accurate, these inland areas will grow increasingly hot over time, requiring even more air conditioning. Douglas and her fellow CEC commissioners will have their hands full meeting this challenge.

Chart courtesy of California Energy Commission

WHAT IS THE HOT HOUSE?

California has passed the nation's first statewide laws to control carbon dioxide and other emissions linked to global warming. Now comes the tough part: Translating statutes into action. Corporate CEOs, European ministers and others are all watching what happens here in Sacramento. This blog will track the implementation of California’s laws and the power players that are trying to influence the outcome.

WHAT ARE THE LAWS?

AB 32
Signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Requires the state to reduce its global warming emissions to 1990 levels (a 25 percent reduction) by 2020, with a further 80 percent reduction by 2050.

SB 1368
Also enacted in 2006. Requires utilities to purchase long-term power contracts from sources that are as "clean" – in terms of carbon emissions – as the most efficient natural gas-fired power plants. Effectively bans new contracts with out-of-state coal power plants.

AB 1493
Signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis in 2002. Requires motor vehicles sold in California by 2009 to achieve the maximum feasible reduction of greenhouse gases. The major automobile manufacturers are now challenging it in court.

STUART LEAVENWORTH

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