Schwarzenegger discusses California’s Energy Challenges
Suggests Republicans and Democrats “sleep together”

From the Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

May 13, 2008

Event: Speech, New Majority Energy Summit, Morning Room, Palm Garden at the Island Hotel, 690 Newport Center Dr., Newport Beach, CA

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:

Well, thank you very much, Hadi, for the wonderful introduction, and John, thank you also for that wonderful speech. And I’m sorry I interrupted a little bit here, but we always love to listen to you. I’ve told you this, there’s no one that knows more about this subject of energy, and you have been such a great partner also, so thank you very much for being here today.

And I have to say that I’m thrilled to be here in a room with so many great minds that are sitting out there today and I want to thank the New Majority and their partners, which is UC Irvine and the Milken Institute, for putting this together. And, of course, I think that New Majority doesn’t surprise me when they put on an event and it is a straight 10, because they always do everything as a straight 10, they’re always very successful. And so, of course, this fantastic work here and this conference is no exception to that.

And what makes me always impressed with the New Majority is because they bring people together, they bring organizations together. And I think that’s really the challenge that we have also in Sacramento; you know, to bring both parties together. I mean, to bring both parties together and they go in the same direction.

And so this is why, to make sure of that, I proposed today something totally new, which is to have a solar-powered electric chair. So they have something in there — (Laughter) — so they have something in there for both parties, so everyone can be happy. You see, this is how I get things together.

But they were always like so amazed, and they said, “You know, I don’t understand how you brought Democrats and Republicans together in Sacramento for all of those issues, environmental issues and the budget and all those things. You know, that’s very difficult.”

I said, “I don’t what you’re talking about. I sleep with a Democrat every night, so I know exactly how you bring people together.” I’m not recommending or suggesting that they should sleep with one another up there in Sacramento, but it’s just an idea. (Laughter)

But anyway, the timing of this conference is perfect, I have to say, because our state and our nation and the world are facing unprecedented challenges, from global warming to high energy prices and threats to our energy security. If we are to rise to these challenges and overcome the obstacles that stand in our way we need a clear commitment to leadership. Luckily, I’m standing in a room where we have a lot of great leaders, because our efforts are crucial as we embark on our energy future.

Before I discuss, of course, the future, I want to take us back a little bit into California’s past and talk about something, or use a word that is a no-no at an energy conference, which is blackouts. But you remember we had a lot of blackouts, which was a disastrous situation for our state. We had supply shortages and transmission bottlenecks, and people paid the ultimate price because of it and lives and businesses were thrown into chaos in our state.

And then we sprang into action and we built new power plants and increased the supply by more than 15,000 megawatts — and of course John was very helpful with that — which is enough electricity for 15 million families. We upgraded the north/south transmission path so the demand for electricity could be made faster. We flexed our power for conservation and extended California’s leadership in per capita electricity use. In short, we restored power and we restored order.

We are now delivering all the electricity that our growing population and our economy needs, but we need, of course, much more. And we are committed to supplying that power under the most aggressive and groundbreaking environmental targets ever, because I’ve said many times that we must protect the economy and also at the same time protect our environment. So we passed AB 32 and we made a commitment to roll back our greenhouse gas emissions to the 1990 level by the year 2020 — this is a reduction of 25 percent — and an additional 80 percent by the year 2050. We also made a commitment to have 20 percent of renewables by the year 2010, and 33 percent by the year 2020.

So now the question is, how do we meet those goals and get even better? And that’s where leadership and innovation come in. As a state we have taken bold action, like for instance the first Low Carbon Fuel Standard that we passed last year, or the Million Solar Roof program, or the Green Building Initiative, to make a commitment to make our government buildings more energy efficient by the year 2015. And we have seen outstanding ingenuity from businesses, like Southern California Edison is installing 65 million square feet of solar panels on large warehouses in our state and connecting it right to the grid, which means we don’t need transmission lines for that. So John Bryson, let’s give him a big hand for the great idea that he came up with. (Applause)

And Frito-Lay is harnessing the power of Central Valley sunshine to make SunChips. Energy standards have quadrupled the efficiency of appliances like refrigerators. Developers are building homes now with solar systems because consumers demand it.

So, I could go on and on of all the great things that were accomplished here in the last few years, but now we need to take a hard look at the obstacles that still remain, including those that come from environmental concerns. Too often good, clean projects get bogged down in the approval process. And this has been very frustrating, because it shies away a lot of the business leaders from around the world. And I’ve met with the CEOs from countries from all over the world and they want to go and provide us with renewable energy, they want to invest in California. Many of them hesitate, though, because of two reasons; complexity and time.

California is blessed, as you know, with some of the most ideal resources for renewables on the planet, but different agencies with competing interests get in the way. As a matter of fact, when I came into office I brought the leaders together and the energy leaders, and I talked about that we have 13 commissions and agencies that are controlling all of this. I said, “Let us go and find a way of reducing that.” They came back with a great idea; let’s create another agency or commission to study all the agencies and commissions. So anyway, we still have a lot of work to do on that.

Sometimes it is locating just transmission lines or ensuring water quality or to protect endangered species. Many times it is also to protect endangered species that have never been seen there in any particular area. So, we have seen all of that. We need to take, of course, a holistic approach to those vital issues. And we are beginning to do a much better job in our state by working together. For instance, we reached compromises that allow us to move forward with the solar plant in the Mojave Desert, and the first-ever transmission line devoted to renewables from the Tehachapi wind farm. And I’m committed to finding a way to streamline also the process, which we must do, without sacrificing the ideals that make California great. That’s my first energy objective.

Now I want to ask all of you to help me with my next goal. In fact, I have a mission for all of you. As you do some research, and create and purchase and invest in renewable energy technologies, I want you to think about the future. And the reason why I’m saying this is because too many times one thinks only about the next year or the next two years. I’m talking about the next decade or the next two or three decades. Your idea might not look affordable right now but energy prices are never going to go back to the good old days, I guarantee you that, so look at the long-term profitability and the long-term return.

Now, let me say also something here that is extremely important. And I want to say this loud and clear, because I want the CEOs and I want the scientists and the policy makers to hear me here today. California has the power, California has the innovation and the will to become the first state in the nation to be energy independent while we are fighting global warming. Now, of course it won’t happen overnight, but deep down in my heart I know it will happen. All we have to do is remain committed.

I remember in bodybuilding, if you wanted to see if you could lift 500 pounds you put 500 pounds on the bar, otherwise you would never know if you could lift it or not. And you tried and you failed, and you tried again and you failed maybe again, but eventually I lifted the 500 pounds. So let’s put that power of California businesses and California research and California ingenuity into our lift. Let’s see how much we can accomplish and how much we can lift. And at the same time, let us lift up the entire nation and the entire world by becoming a model for energy independence. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you. (Applause)

FCJ Editor

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