AND GOOD FOR ARNOLD!

An enthusiastic endorsement of Arnold's newest green proposals from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Bold move on global warming; A WORLD FIRST: Governor to order new standard to reduce carbon content of motor fuels
Greg Lucas, January 10, 2007 (San Francisco Chronicle)
- California will create the world's first global warming pollution standard for transportation fuels, ratcheting down fuel carbon content 10 percent by 2020 under a plan put forward by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday in his State of the State address.

- The new standard could have implications for the auto industry and change the way gasoline is produced around the globe. Environmentalists hailed it…
- Advocates of the proposal said competition from alternative fuels and a reduction in dependence on oil would prevent gasoline prices from rising, but oil companies said changing the mix of fuels to reduce carbon emissions would carry a cost…
- The plan gives the makers of gasoline and diesel fuel discretion…They can either reformulate their fuel or increase use of alternative fuels such as ethanol, natural gas and hydrogen…
- "Our cars have been running on dirty fuel too long. Our country has been dependent on foreign oil for too long. I ask you to set in motion the means to free ourselves from oil and from OPEC," Schwarzenegger told a joint session of the Legislature.
- Schwarzenegger plans to issue an executive order requiring the state's Air Resources Board to draft rules for a new carbon fuel standard, which would take effect in January 2010. His authority to do that comes from landmark legislation signed last year aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across a wide spectrum of industries…
- Although the European Union is weighing a similar rule on carbon emissions, California would be the first government to create one…
- The new standard [the equivalent of taking 3 million cars off the road by 2020] is expected to reduce emissions by 13 million metric tons, more than half of the 24 million metric tons of carbon dioxide the state will need to eliminate to meet 1990 vehicle emission levels.
- Transportation accounts for 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in California.
- Schwarzenegger has made combatting global warming a centerpiece of his administration…Schwarzenegger's predecessor, Gray Davis, signed the nation's first bill to curb carbon dioxide emissions from tailpipes in 2002…A legal challenge to the law by the auto industry has threatened that timetable…
- Automakers have pledged by 2012 to have half their vehicles run on flex fuel, allowing the use of either gasoline or ethanol. Building more hybrids and more natural-gas-powered vehicles also would help reduce emissions…

- Under the proposal, makers of gasoline and diesel fuel that do not reach the 10 percent reduction could buy credits from companies exceeding the standard. The credits would be used to reach compliance…

And a calmer evaluation for The New York Times:

Schwarzenegger Orders Cuts in Emissions
Jennifer Steinhauer and Felicity Barringer, January 10, 2007 (NY Times)
- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he would ask regulators to require the state’s petroleum refiners and gasoline sellers to cut by 10 percent the emissions of heat-trapping gases associated with the production and use of their products.
- The order for cuts, which the governor wants completed by 2020, follows California’s trademark pattern of hitching its environmental aspirations to its market muscle. It also represents one of the first examples of a state or a national government regulating the fuel in its passenger vehicles as part of a strategy to reduce both emissions that contribute to climate change and dependence on foreign oil…
- “Our country has been dependent on foreign oil for too long,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in his address. “I ask you to set to motion the means to free ourselves from oil and from OPEC. I ask you to encourage the free market to overthrow the old order. California has the muscle to bring about such change. I say use it.”
- The executive order asks state air regulators to take up the governor’s challenge. The California Air Resources Board will be responsible for drawing the blueprints to carry out the order, with the help of advisers from the University of California, Berkeley.
It is the first example of the practical impact of a deal made last summer between the Legislature and the governor to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 25 percent by 2020. The transportation sector is responsible for about 40 percent of the state’s carbon dioxide emissions…and cars make up about half that amount.

- The 10 percent cut in emissions would be accomplished, experts said, largely through the use of alternative fuels, like ethanol and other gasoline blends, which would be provided by the refineries and other producers…
- Environmentalists expected the order to turbocharge the market demand for corn-based ethanol and biodiesel fuels, and for natural gas, and to jump-start the introduction of experimental fuels like cellulosic ethanol, which is made from plant waste or nonfood crops like switch grass or wood chips…The companies or industries that stand to benefit financially from his plan include producers of corn-based ethanol, biodiesel and other, more experimental forms of renewable fuels…
- two otherwise identical gallons of ethanol could have different greenhouse-gas ratings, if one were refined using carbon-intensive coal-fired electricity, while the other was refined using relatively carbon-light electricity from natural gas…
- The governor’s staff said his mandate had the support of the oil industry. But that support was clearly not unanimous…The auto industry, in turn, believes California has asked plenty, and has sued the state over environmental rules…