Clean CaliforniaThe Angelides Plan to Combat Global WarmingAs Governor, Phil Angelides will address global warming by capping greenhouse gas emissions and reducing California's gasoline and diesel use by 25 percent in ten years. Our planet is heating up, with potentially catastrophic effects. Our nation is held hostage by its appetite for imported oil, putting our security at risk. Our state struggles to guard its quality of life as families cope with worsening traffic congestion, rising energy costs and violent weather patterns. Air pollution clouds the skies of our major cities and the Central Valley, endangering the health of millions of our people. There is a better way. We can make California the world leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption by developing clean vehicles and fuel and by growing smarter. We can give Californians the choice to drive fewer miles and burn - and pay for - fewer gallons of gasoline. We can guard the public's health from air pollution and prevent traffic congestion from stealing even more of our time. We can create the clean technologies and the next generation of high-wage jobs to keep California at the front rank of the global economy. President Bush and the Republican Congress remain locked in denial about the security and environmental risks of our reliance on oil and about global warming. They have refused to raise vehicle efficiency standards, vigorously pursue clean energy alternatives, or cap U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases. Governor Schwarzenegger has offered rhetoric about greenhouse gas targets and hydrogen highways, but no real action. He has proposed to weaken crucial legislation that would fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in California. In this election year, he is standing with Big Oil in opposing the investments California needs to make in clean fuels and vehicles. As Governor, Phil Angelides will offer real action and a real plan, calling this generation of Californians to meet the challenge of reducing oil consumption to protect our security and environment and make California the global leader of the sustainable economy of the future. The Angelides Clean California plan will take California in the right direction - capping greenhouse gas emissions and reducing gasoline and diesel use by 25 percent in ten years. The Clean California plan will: 1. Invest $5.5 billion of Prop. 87 and pension fund monies to make California the global leader in developing and selling clean technology, fuels, vehicles, and renewable energy. Phil Angelides is working with environmental groups, scientists, business leaders, public health organizations, and consumer groups to pass Proposition 87, the Clean Energy Initiative. It will create a 10-year, $4 billion program of incentives to California consumers and businesses to make and purchase cleaner, more efficient vehicles and renewable fuels, making them affordable and widely available. These investments, funded by a temporary fee on oil companies that extract oil in California, will reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and protect California families from the rising price of gasoline, which now costs each California family an average of $3,000 a year. Proposition 87 will also fund research to spur the discovery of new clean fuel and energy technologies and move them toward the marketplace, creating jobs and new export opportunities for businesses. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes the measure, putting the profits of his oil industry allies over the health of our people and environment. In addition, building on the success of his Green Wave initiative at the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, Phil Angelides will seek an additional $1.5 billion in Green Wave investments from our state pension funds, local pension funds, and other institutional investors. These investments in clean technology, alternative energy, and energy efficiency will earn strong returns for the funds, create jobs, and improve the environment. 2. Require that auto and oil companies give Californians clean fuel choices. California drivers cannot free themselves from oil unless the marketplace gives them the choice to do so. Phil Angelides will seek legislation to mandate that all new vehicles sold in California be flexible-fuel cars, capable of running on any mix of gasoline and bio-fuels. There are already about 5 million "flex-fuel" vehicles on U.S. roads, such as many Ford Tauruses; it costs only about $150 extra to manufacture a flexible-fuel vehicle and give consumers the choice to buy bio-fuels. The Clean California plan will require major oil companies to switch a portion of their filling station pumps to bio-fuels to match the number of flex-fuel vehicles on the road so that Californians with flexible-fuel vehicles have ready access to cleaner alternative fuels. Today, for example, only one public filling station in California sells E85 ethanol, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline for flex-fuel cars. 3. Enact enforceable greenhouse gas emission limits and create a cap and trade program. Phil Angelides supports the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which puts in place enforceable greenhouse gas emissions caps. Once again preferring rhetoric to action, Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed amendments to this legislation that would gut its enforcement provisions. As Governor, Phil Angelides put in place a real program to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. He will set up a regulated market to reduce greenhouse gas emissions similar to the market that proved wildly successful in reducing acid rain in the U.S. Northeast in the 1990s. This new market will place a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions and allow companies to clean the environment at the least cost. 4. Convert all state and local government fleets to clean, efficient vehicles. The public sector should lead the way in reducing oil consumption and reducing pollution. The Angelides plan - building on a law he sponsored in 2003 to green the state's vehicle fleet - will require vehicles purchased by the state and local governments to be alternative-fuel or efficient vehicles such as hybrids. By converting fleets of government vehicles, California can help prime the market for clean and renewable vehicles, bringing down costs for everyone. 5. Put in place a comprehensive smart growth plan for California to curb sprawl, clean up the air, and let Californians drive less. To give Californians more transportation options and the choice to use and pay for fewer gallons of fossil fuels, we must choose to grow smarter. We must renew existing communities with urban infill housing, jobs and businesses, create transit-oriented, walkable, well-designed, vibrant urban communities, and ensure sustainable growth for our future. A recent study in the Sacramento region showed that smart growth can reduce vehicle miles traveled by 25 percent below what would occur if current development patterns continue. The comprehensive Angelides smart growth plan will build on his groundbreaking Double Bottom Line and Smart Investments initiatives that have directed $26 billion in capital to revitalize urban neighborhoods and curb sprawl. The plan will:
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