[Dialogue] Good for California!!

FacilitationFla at aol.com FacilitationFla at aol.com
Fri Oct 20 05:55:07 EST 2006


 
Make  History, Arnold!  
By _THOMAS L.  FRIEDMAN_ 
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/index.html?inline=nyt-per)  
Governors  don’t often get a chance to make big-time history, but Gov. Arnold 
 Schwarzenegger of California has that opportunity now — if he’s ready to 
get off  the fence. With one move, Governor Schwarzenegger could make California 
 America’s hub for developing “green” clean-power technologies — which are 
going  to be the growth industry of the 21st century — and do  something that 
President Bush has only paid lip service to: really help to end  America’s oil 
 addiction. 
Do  it, Arnold.  C’mon, just do it. 
Here’s  the basic story: This Nov. 7, Californians will be asked to vote yes 
or no on  Proposition 87, a ballot initiative that would impose a higher 
extraction fee on  oil pumped in California. (Up to now, oil companies in  
California  have paid a very low extraction fee compared with those in other states — 
a  rip-off they want to keep.) 
The  new funds raised by Prop 87, explained The San Francisco Chronicle, “
would be  used to finance research and development of alternative fuels in 
universities;  education campaigns; and subsidies to consumers who buy vehicles that 
use  alternative fuels and businesses that produce and distribute alternative 
fuels.  ... Oil companies would be taxed between 1.5 percent and 6 percent on 
oil  production depending on the price of oil per barrel. The tax would end 
by 2017  or when the tax generates $4 billion, whichever occurs first.”   
Passage  of Prop 87 would be huge. To begin with, it would be the perfect 
complement to  the carbon reduction law that Arnold just signed. That law 
requires  California to  reduce its carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. 
Prop 87, for its  part, sets a goal of a 25 percent reduction in oil 
consumption in California in 10 years.  Today, California consumes about 16 billion  
gallons of gasoline a year, so a 25 percent reduction, if realized, would put  
California  well on its way to meeting its new carbon emissions goal. 
But  Prop 87, by also raising a $4 billion energy fund, and devoting most of 
it to  nurturing new fuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles and buildings, 
would enable  California to  consistently enhance those companies, communities 
and schools now pioneering  alternative energies. As anyone who has followed the 
alternative energy movement  knows, one of its greatest weaknesses has been 
that Washington has constantly  started and stopped subsidies for things like 
solar and wind power — so  technologies have been innovated here but then 
turned into marketable products  overseas.  
By  combining renewable-energy targets and a $4 billion fund to consistently 
support  the start-up of companies to reach those targets in a free-market 
way,  California would set a compelling example for other states — and maybe even 
for  Washington. 
The  reason that Mr. Bush’s call a year ago to end our oil addiction has been 
a total  flop has to do with a struggle in his administration between foolish 
market  worshipers led by Dick Cheney — who insist markets will take care of 
everything  — and wiser, nuanced policy makers who understand that government’
s job is to  set broad goals and standards, and then let the market reach 
them.   
The  best example of that is the 1999 Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard — a 
state  law signed by whom? Gov. George W. Bush! The law required Texas 
electricity  companies to buy a set amount of renewable power by 2009. This 
stimulated the  Texas  utilities marketplace to erect huge wind farms. Today, Texas is 
a real leader in  wind energy and has sharply driven down the cost through 
innovation.   
President  Bush, meet Governor Bush. 
Naturally,  oil companies like Exxon Mobil — which just paid its outgoing 
chairman, Lee  Raymond, $400,000,000 in his final year — are financing misleading 
ads to try to  fool Californians into rejecting Prop 87. Polls show it’s too 
close to call. And  that brings us back to Arnold. He’s on the fence. Even 
though he’ll be  re-elected in a landslide, he’s not come out for Prop 87 — 
because he’s against  higher taxes, in principle. But he hasn’t come out against 
it either. If he, and  wife, Maria, openly support it, Prop 87 passes. It’s 
that  simple. 
Bill  Clinton said it best: “California is being given an opportunity ...  to 
do something remarkable to save the planet, improve our national security and 
 create the next generation of good jobs for the American people. That’s what 
 Prop 87 represents.” 
And  Governor Schwarzenegger can determine whether or not that opportunity is 
seized.  C’mon, Arnold,  just do it. No one will remember you for sparing 
Exxon from a tax hike. And no  one will forget you for spurring America to 
realize the dream of a  clean, independent energy economy.  


Cynthia N.  Vance
Strategics International Inc.
8245 SW 116 Terrace
Miami, Florida,  33156
305-378-1327; fax 305-378-9178
_http://members.aol.com/facilitationfla_ 
(http://members.aol.com/facilitationfla) 

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