California Targeted by Nationwide Effort to Repeal Global Warming Laws

Republican politicians across the country are joining in a campaign to repeal California's global warming law. In what is being called the "jobs initiative," Republicans nationwide are pushing a new piece of legislation that would suspend more than half of California's greenhouse gas laws if statewide unemployment exceeds 5.5%. The Golden State's unemployment rate has not been that low for over three years; today it has one of the highest unemployment rates at 12.4%.

Current and prospective congressmen, corporations, California gubernatorial candidates, and talk radio hosts are building up a campaign that emission program administrators say they must take seriously. "[The jobs initiative] would put all our efforts at energy efficiency and renewable energy in the deep freezer for a long time," said Mary D. Nichols of the California Air Resources Board told the LA Times. Other supporters of California's greenhouse gas laws have refused to refer to the campaign as the jobs initiative, such as Democratic Gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown, who renamed the summary to "Suspends Air Pollution Control Laws Requiring Major Polluters to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions That Cause Global Warming Until Unemployment Drops Below Specified Level for Full Year."

This comes at a critical time for environmental groups, as the United Nations global warming report comes under fire for errors and research gaps concerning assessments made in the health of the Himalayas and the viability of Northern Africa. Domestically, NOAA's findings on water vapor have brought even more into question about carbon dioxide's role in global warming while the climate scientist central to last year's Climategate scandal admitted that he contemplated suicide after his emails were leaked.

A survey by Pew Charitable Trusts last week found Global Warming last on a list of America's top 20 concerns, with only 28% of respondents saying that they "believe it is a serious issue". In comparison, 45% of respondents said that "moral decline" was a serious issue while "terrorism" was important to 80% of respondents.

"We are on fire," said Republican lawmaker Dan Logue of the jobs initiative and the support behind it. "People are calling from all over the country. This will be the most intense campaign the state has seen in 50 years." Recognizing this, Governor Schwarzenegger pleaded with corporations to stay out of what he says is an initiative to weaken, not strengthen, California's economy. Schwarzenegger says that he "absolutely opposes" the initiative.

Calling it the "California Cap and Trade Revolt," Wall Street Journal editorialists are already predicting the downfall of California's greenhouse gas regulations. Environmental groups like the Natural Resource Defense Council disagree, saying that repealing California's greenhouse gas laws is "saying no to jobs and opportunities for Californians."