Schwarzenegger Calls for Stronger Climate Action

Schwarzenegger Calls for Stronger Climate Action



Feb 2007 - 
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and presidential 
hopeful Senator John McCain on Wednesday urged the federal 
government to more aggressively tackle global warming. The two 
Republicans, who toured a Los Angeles port together, touted 
California's new legislation to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions, including a recent executive order signed by 
Schwarzenegger to set a standard for low carbon fuels. 
The order, issued last month, aims to reduce the carbon 
intensity of California's passenger vehicle fuels by at least 
10 percent by 2020. State officials estimate that the standard 
will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 13 million 
metric tons a year, the equivalent of taking three million 
cars off the road. 
"All of this is great for our environment, our economy and our 
taxpayers because the low carbon fuel standard will more than 
triple the size of our renewable fuels market in California 
and put more than seven million alternative fuel or hybrid 
vehicles on our roads by 2020 without any new government 
spending," Schwarzenegger said. "It's also great for our 
national security because we will be less dependent on foreign 
oil and less vulnerable to price shocks and instability beyond 
our borders." 
The European Union has adopted a similar standard, aiming to 
cut emissions by 500 million metric tons by 2020 and 
Schwarzenegger said the U.S. government should do the same. 
The governor also promoted California's plan to use an 
emissions trading plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 
levels by 2020, calling it a good model for the federal 
government to consider. 
"They can see what we're doing out here, then take that back 
to Washington and hopefully we can duplicate that on a 
national level," Schwarzenegger said. 
McCain, an Arizona Republican who has been a leading Senate 
proponent of mandatory greenhouse gas emission reductions, 
praised California's efforts and called the Bush 
administration's record on global warming "terrible." 
"I've held hearings for years and got no cooperation from the 
administration on this issue," McCain said.

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