Guest opinion
Dueling promises: governor's actions on green issues seem conflicting
By Tom McClintock

Gov. Schwarzenegger has staked his administration upon two signature issues: his international leadership to reduce "greenhouse gases" and his promise to construct new highways, dams, levees, aqueducts and other public works.

Last month "the green governor" toured the globe to tout his greenhouse gas bill (AB 32) that requires a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide by 2020, making it the most restrictive emissions law in the country.

Last week, the governor toured California to tout his public works renaissance that requires $40 billion in taxpayerfinanced bonds, making it the biggest borrowing binge in the country.

Individually, these two media events have played to rave reviews. But combined, they form a picture of breathtaking mendacity. The governor's crusade against greenhouse gases is, in fact, the single greatest impediment to the era of public works that he has promised, and the crusade for public works construction is the biggest impediment to reducing greenhouse gases that he has promised.

To understand the dilemma requires a quick recap of the chemistry lecture that Gov. Schwarzenegger apparently missed. Highways, dams, levees and aqueducts require prodigious amounts of concrete, the central ingredient of which is cement. Cement is manufactured by superheating limestone to produce a compound called "clinker," which is about two-thirds of the rock's original weight. The missing third of that weight is carbon dioxide. Lots of carbon dioxide. In fact, cement production is the third biggest contributor of greenhouse gases in all human activity, ranking only behind internal combustion and deforestation.

And now the farce begins. Schwarzenegger's AB 32 declares carbon dioxide to be the premier environmental hazard of our era. California's Environmental Quality Act requires that any project that degrades the environment must include plans to mitigate that damage.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Jerry Brown used AB 32 to sue San Bernardino County and threaten San Joaquin County on the grounds that their transportation plans fail to explain how they plan to construct or operate highways without increasing carbon dioxide emissions. In short, the counties cannot proceed with construction until they can demonstrate that the highways can be built without earthmovers or concrete and that, once completed, no one will use them.

Ever eager to help, Brown has suggested that the counties rethink their plans for highway construction and shift the money into mass transit, bus, bicycle and pedestrian projects instead. It's a good bet that's where most of the highway bonds will end up.

The remaining funds for dams, levees, aqueducts, schools and housing will no doubt be sidetracked into similar New Age boondoggles. Indeed, legislative plans are already afoot to divert money from Prop. 84, the water and flood control bond, for bike trails, museums, aquariums, a "water trail" for "human powered boats" and "water accessible overnight accommodations" at Lake Tahoe.

This is Jerry Brown's dream come true. As governor in the 1970s, Brown cancelled the state's aggressive public works plans, condemning our generation to chronic shortages of highway capacity, water, electricity and housing.

But he's legally correct. By signing AB 32, Schwarzenegger has turned his promise of a public works renaissance into a very expensive hoax.

The governor is now on the horns of a dilemma of his own making. He must either confront the fact that AB 32 was an intellectually dishonest stunt or that his $40 billion of infrastructure bonds were a fraud. There is no third option.

It's what comes of pursuing public policy as a never-ending search for daily publicity and popularity, with no consideration of the actual longterm ramifications of that policy. And it's what separates wisdom from folly.

Sen. McClintock represents the 19th district in the California Legislature. His website address is www.sen.ca.gov/mcclintock