REAGAN admin sec. of st. George Shultz opposes Prop 23 (which'd suspend AB32 global warming legis)

[alp227]

Former U.S. secretary of State George P. Shultz believes it's crucial to fight global warming to protect national security.

Global warming is created by burning fossil fuel, he says, and payments for foreign oil sometimes wind up financing terrorism.

And Shultz, who's also a former Treasury secretary, thinks the nation suffers an "economic vulnerability" because of its oil addiction.

"While we have benefited from low-priced energy," he says, "we've also suffered from periodic spikes in the price of oil. Usually recessions go along with it."

Moreover, continues the man who set up the Environmental Protection Agency four decades ago, "There's a climate problem connected with the burning of fossil fuels.... The basic facts are pretty clear."

"So we have a three-pronged set of problems" created by greenhouse gases, he says. "Security, economic and environmental."

--snip--

Prop. 23, largely bankrolled by two Texas oil companies ( Valero and Tesoro) that operate refineries in California, would significantly hamper this state's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The goal is to pare back emissions to the 1990 level by 2020 — a cut of about 30% from what would be emitted if the state did nothing.

Prop. 23 would suspend AB 32 — the 2006 anti-global warming act championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — until the unemployment rate in California fell to at least 5.5% for a full year. Unemployment now exceeds 12%.

Full story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap-20100802,0,5018525,full.column

Reagan-loving Tea Party outrage at 3...2..1.? But good for Mr. Shultz.