SACRAMENTO — Democrats in the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday acknowledged that they were at loggerheads over details in a pioneering bill to combat global warming.
The dust-up, if unresolved, could lead the governor to veto a bill that he's hoping to make the environmental centerpiece of his bid to win a second term.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday May 28, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
Global-warming initiative: An Aug. 24, 2006, article in Business about the debate last summer between Democrats in the state Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a bill to combat global warming said California produced about 12% of the world's greenhouse gases. The correct figure is 2.5%.
Veteran statehouse watchers caution that the global warming bill is too important to the governor, Democrats and, ultimately, California voters to let die.
"Both sides have every incentive to figure out a compromise on this one," said Dan Schnur, a Republican political consultant. "If it takes a little bit of chest beating before they make a deal that's just how life in the Capitol works."
The bill, AB 32, is being hailed by both the environmentalists and the Schwarzenegger administration as possibly the most far-reaching initiative of the year.
They stress that California, which produces about 12% of the world's greenhouse gases, could become a model for the rest of the country and the world in finding ways to avoid the effects of climate change, such as coastal flooding, melting snowpacks and stunted agriculture.
Businesses are split over the proposal. Some fear it would raise costs and destroy jobs. Others see opportunities to profit from developing new technologies.
For now, Schwarzenegger is insisting that any measure to curb greenhouse gases contain mandatory provisions to let industries buy and sell credits allowing some companies to pay for the right to pollute.
He also is pushing to add a provision that would allow the governor to suspend the global warming program if disasters, health problems or economic crises threaten the state.
Schwarzenegger said at a news conference that he "didn't want to talk about what I'd veto." Rather, he said he preferred signaling that he'd sign a bill that would put caps on greenhouse gas pollution and create a market for trading pollution credits.
Industries that reduce emissions to levels below their limits could sell credits to firms that want to exceed their designated cap. The governor said such a "market-based system" would clean the air more quickly because it "makes money" for businesses.
But critics say such systems are bureaucratically unwieldy, financially unworkable and could accomplish little.
