August 23, 2004

8/23 - CALIFORNIA: Step by Step with Governor Schwarzenegger

The story of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California coast continues. To read THE FOUR STEPS OF GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER'S OCEAN ACTIONS (SO FAR) click on the link at the very bottom of this post...

On Friday the state held a public hearing on the Governor's Action Plan where I showed the two PSAs (Ocean Symphony and Tiny Fish) and spoke briefly (quoted in an article about the hearing in the LA Times Saturday). The hearing was one of those great experiences of representatives from all the major ocean conservation groups working together, saying the same things, supporting each other. And the state officials seemed to be listening closely. When you see that happen you think there just might be hope for the oceans (as opposed to when you hear the marketing and communications people from the major groups talking about how their organization is your "one stop shopping place" for saving the environment).

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Would you trust this man with your ocean?

THE FOUR STEPS OF GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER'S OCEAN ACTION (SO FAR)

This is just my take on what I've seen so far, but it looks like it has gone from seemingly bad to what actually looks fairly promising.

STEP 1: The Governator Steps on the MLPA - soon after taking office the new Governor announced he was cutting the $2 million in the state budget slated for implementation of the Marine Life Protection Act (which had been passed in 1999). This brought cries of disappointment from the environmental groups, and from the general public, it brought ... a collective yawn (on the list of priorities for this state, the oceans appear to be pretty far down).

STEP 2: Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Terry Taminen head of Cal. EPA - Terry Taminen is a long time, dyed in the wool environmentalist, and as a result was chided by friends when he took the position. I heard him speak at a luncheon in May and was almost shocked at his praise for the Governor's commitment to environmental leadership. I began to have doubts about the initial knee-jerk revulsion by the left over Schwarzenegger's election.

STEP 3: Scripps Press Conference - in June, Jeremy Jackson and I attended a short press conference beside the Scripps Pier at which Terry Taminen and Mike Crisman (head of Cal. Natural Resources Dept.) spoke about the Governor's determination to establish California as a leader in ocean conservation. Being a couple of veteran skeptics, we both scowled and did our best to look like non-believers, but in truth we were pretty impressed with the things we heard (provided they come true).

STEP 4: Governor's Ocean Action Plan - last week the Governor's office held public hearings on Thursday in San Francisco and Friday in Newport Beach to gather comments on the Governor's new Ocean Action Plan. I attended the Newport Beach session, presided over by Terry Taminen and Brian Baird who is the long time Ocean Program Manager (the Governor's main guy on the oceans who has served with three governors). About 35 people spoke (including me) and I have to say, it sure looks to me like they are very serious about actually protecting the oceans rather than just talking. What was my first clue? That so many of the people testifying were irked that they were being given so little time. Apparently the Governor had told his staff, "Let's set a date and get
this thing going." I think that's a good signal at this point. Yes, it's important to be inclusive of everyone, but sometimes when things are so far behind schedule (the MLPA was passed in 1999 and has yet to be implemented), somebody needs to take the reigns and just make it happen. (And think about what a weak leader would do -- probably give every single person lots and lots of time to say everything until the whole issues loses its momentum).

I'm coming close to being a believer that this Governor actually means what he is saying about wanting California to be a model for ocean protection. There could be some very constructive times ahead. We'll see.

Posted by Randy Olson at August 23, 2004 07:28 AM
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