Right On Arnold!

Arnold Schwartzeneger has become the most progressive and clear-headed governor on the environment. He was profiled by the Washington Post today.

“This year he signed the nation’s first environmental law of its kind, committing the state to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020 and setting up an international program that provides manufacturers with incentives to lower carbon emissions, which is supposed to begin by 2012. He has vowed to fight any attempt to drill for oil off California’s coast.

Because California has embraced conservation like no other big state, its per capita consumption of energy has remained flat over 30 years, while the rest of the country’s has increased by 50 percent. And total vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons have fallen more than 20 percent in 15 years, even though miles driven by state motorists are up by more than 20 percent.

Noting that Silicon Valley investors are devoting billions of dollars to green technology, Schwarzenegger predicted that a new era is dawning for business. He enthused about a recent trip to the Los Angeles Auto Show, where he test-drove an electric race car that went from 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. “A battery? I mean that’s extraordinary. That’s faster than a turbo Porsche,” he said.

“All of this is going to be a whole new phenomenon,” he said, “where people who are smart and entrepreneurial will not fight it but will get into it.”