(cross-posted from Working Californians also available at dailykos.)
Yesterday, Arnold announced his support for a new fossil fuel plant off the coast of California. Today, he was swooned over in DC, giving a speech in conjunction with his NEWSWEEK cover on the environment. Arnold’s attitude towards the environment is to have your cake and eat it too. In Arnold’s green world, you can drive a muscle car or a Hummer and save the environment. There is no personal sacrifice necessary.
Much has been made of Arnold’s appearance on Pimp My Ride, where they convert a 1965 Chevy Impala into a biodiesel machine.
The April 22 episode of “Pimp My Ride” will show that “biofuel is not like some wimpy, feminine car, like a hybrid,” Schwarzenegger said in the current Newsweek cover article. “Because the muscle guys, they have this thing: `I don’t want to be seen in the little feminine car.'”
Today he
“We don’t have to really go and take away the muscle cars, we don’t have to take away the Hummers or the SUVs or anything else, because that’s a formula for failure,” he said. “Instead, what we have to do is make those cars more environmentally muscular.”
The rebuilt car gets 25 MPG, granted that is biofuel, but there is simply not enough biofuel lying around to be able to repeat this experiment on a large scale. The owner will have to work hard to find a steady supply of fuel for his vehicle. It is not as if he can just pull up to any ole gas station.
The 25 MPG is actually the current average fuel economy standard for all vehicles. It is much lower than the proposed increases to the CAFE standards. Sen. Feinstein and Boxer are both co-sponsors to bill which would increase the fuel economy standards for all vehicles, including SUVs and sedans to 35 MPG by model year 2019.
Feinstein:
This bill is long overdue. That’s because the technology already exists to improve fuel efficiency standards. Raising the fuel economy of the cars and trucks we drive by 10 miles per gallon over 10 years is the simplest step we can take. This would reduce 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by 2025. And it would save nearly the amount of oil we currently import from the Persian Gulf.
Changing an engine on a Hummer or a Chevy Impala will not reduce our dependance on foreign oil. The free market will not solve all of our ills. We need to continue to push our private industry to innovate. Just telling Michigan to “Get off your butts, and join us.” like he did today does not get the job done. Calling environmentalists “no fun, like prohibitionists at the fraternity party.” will not help either.
Chiang and Garamendi were consistent with their vote against the LNG terminal for environmental reasons.
Both Garamendi and Chiang, who are Democrats, stated concerns with the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution as major factors in their votes against the project.
“The governor and the Legislature have enacted statutes to reduce California’s carbon footprint and move us from fossils fuels toward cleaner, renewable alternatives,” Chiang said in a statement. “I do not think this project is something that carries out the spirit of our new, groundbreaking laws.”
Arnold has never been consistent. We frequently see a major disconnect between his talk and his actions. His environmental record is particularly illustrative of this phenomenon. Read this piece by Hannah-Beth Jackson for the details.
Back to the cake…in some ways this reminds me of the classic Eddie Izzard bit on the Church of England offering up two choices: cake or death. Obviously, everyone chooses cake and they run out, leaving “or death”. Or death is not a very appealing choice, yet if we keep up on this path, that is what we and our descendants will be left with.
Also on Working Californians the past two days
Bad Plan, Worse Punishment: individual mandated health care.
Ed Coalition Ad: YouTube version of coalition ad for more education funding.
Afternoon Presidential Linky: highlights from the day’s presidential news.
Grocery Contract Update: latest information on the UFCW negotiations with the big three chains in SoCal.
Richardson Light on Health Care Details: like it says, Gov. Richardson has not fleshed out a health care proposal.