Poizner, Whitman Differ on AB 32, Favor Nuclear

Heading into the June 8 primary election, Republican gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Steven Poizner have differentiated themselves on the state’s climate change law and energy policy. Whitman appears to be hewing to the moderate Republican line represented by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, softening her earlier call for a complete one-year moratorium on the climate change law, AB 32. On the other hand, the Coalition of California Tea Party Groups favored Poizner last week based on its view he not only would suspend the law, but repeal it. In a May memo to Tea Party groups based on a meeting with Poizner, Coalition of Tea Party Groups Southern California coordinator March Harris wrote that Poizner “is not a proponent of global warming and does not support AB 32.” Harris continued that Poizner would “immediately work to oppose its implementation and ultimately to repeal it.” Further, Poizner is adamantly opposed to any carbon cap-and-trade program, equating it to a new tax, wrote Harris. In place of AB 32, Poizner plans to open the coast to offshore drilling and promote nuclear power plants to make the state energy independent, Harris concluded. Early in his campaign, Poizner backed the initiative expected to be on the November ballot to suspend AB 32 until the state’s unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent (see story below). Poizner did not comment on the memo. However, he prominently posted it on his website along with a straw poll taken by the Tea Party organization showing that 72 percent of its members support him over Whitman. Meanwhile, in a shift Poizner called “backtracking,” Whitman in a recent policy paper called for “a fresh look” at the climate change law. Initially, she called for a blanket one-year suspension of AB 32. Her latest stance calls a one-year moratorium to study some of the major rules the California Air Resources Board has proposed under AB 32, though not the 33 percent renewable energy standard. Whitman says she supports the Air Board’s move to set a 33 percent renewable energy standard under the law. She also wants to streamline permits for transmission lines to move wind and solar power from remote areas into the state’s cities. Whitman supports cleaning up air pollution from trucks and trains that serve the state’s major ports, including electrifying port berths so ships can tap into onshore power while docked instead of running their engines to make electricity. She also wants to shift some trucks at the ports to electric power. She opposes offshore oil and gas development until the energy industry develops safe drilling methods. She favors considering nuclear power as a way to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has worked to implement the state’s climate change program as attorney general. He has a history of support for renewable energy and environmental clean up. However, he has taken no position on AB 32 and creating a carbon cap-and-trade program under the law. As governor in the mid-1970s, Brown used his office to undermine nuclear power plants like ones planned for Bodega Bay and the southeastern desert (Sundesert) through the newly established California Energy Commission. That was the first time the state used its environmental clout in the siting process to weed out power plants. Brown’s been reserved on the nuclear power front in his current campaign. Like other California Democratic politicians, he’s says little publicly about anti-nuclear platforms in the face of calls for greenhouse gas reductions. Nuclear plants have minor global warming effect once in use, compared to fossil fueled plants. The mining, refining, and transport of their fuel does emit greenhouse gases.

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Poizner, Whitman Differ on AB 32, Favor Nuclear

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