July 2007
Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger has appointed environmental lawyer and educator Mary
Nichols as chair of the California Air Resources Board, CARB. She takes
charge of the state's transition from suffering some of the nation's worst
air pollution to taking the lead in combating climate change.
Nichols replaces Dr. Robert Sawyer who was fired in late June after a
disagreement with the governor over a deadline for enforcing the federal
Clean Air Act in the San Joaquin Valley, the heart of California's
agricultural region.
She had been serving as director of the University of California-Los
Angeles Institute of the Environment.
Nichols previously held the CARB chair from 1978 to 1983 and was a Board
member for seven years. She served as assistant administrator for air and
radiation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton
administration.
"Today, I am proud to appoint a real powerhouse to lead California’s most
important environmental agency,” Governor Schwarzenegger said Thursday.
“There is no one more qualified, more committed and more able to lead our
efforts on climate change and air quality than Mary Nichols."
Aides in the governor’s office said Sawyer’s appointment was rescinded
after the Board voted June 14 to delay imposing federal air quality
standards in the San Joaquin Valley until 2024.
Sawyer, a professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley, has
said San Joaquin Valley air was not really the issue in his dismissal. He
views the issue as the independence of the Board from the governor’s
direction.
While announcing Nichol's appointment, the governor made it clear that to
him the San Joaquin Valley is the issue.
"When one out of six residents in the San Joaquin Valley has been
diagnosed with asthma and one in five children carry an inhaler to school,
it is a call to action," he said. "The Air Resources Board must keep
California on the path of cleaner air, particularly in areas with
significant air quality issues such as the San Joaquin Valley, the South
Coast and areas around our ports."
Nichols will be in charge of California's two showpiece climate
initiatives. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes a
statewide target for greenhouse gas reduction by 2020. CARB is empowered
to adopt an emissions limit and regulations, market mechanisms, and early
action measures to achieve it.
The governor's Low Carbon Fuel Standard established by executive order in
January requires a 10 percent emissions reduction by 2020. CARB oversees
implementation of this early action measure.
Nichols said, "I look forward to working with the governor to balance
California’s goals for better air quality with the economic needs of our
state while encouraging the technological advancements necessary to attain
clean air for all Californians."
With its worldwide reputation, CARB's integrity and capability have never
been more important, said Ann Notthoff, California advocacy director with
the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Its mandate to reduce global
warming pollution is as complex a challenge as anything it's ever faced."
"Mary Nichols has proven her mettle time after time as a leader, enforcer
and advocate for a healthy environment and public health."
|
