State of the State Misses The Mark

Sierra Club California’s environmental advocates today watched Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s short “State of the State” address with disappointment.

Like most Californians, we are caught up in the pain and worry surrounding the state’s fiscal crisis. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s short speech failed to address those very real concerns by proposing real leadership (Click on the photo at right to watch the speech).

Instead of spinning his wheels with a short address, Gov. Schwarzenegger should be declaring 2009 to be the Year of the Green Jobs, as Director Bill Magavern suggested in a recent KQED radio interview. We have opportunities to create and improve public transit, water supply, affordable housing, flood protection and energy efficiency – all without harming our environment or spending money we don’t have.

California’s legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, have a plan to stimulate the state’s economy by spending already-approved bond money on “green infrastructure” projects that would improve our state’s economy without affecting its ecology. What’s more, the proposed Green Economic Stimulus Plan looks out for the next generation by providing green jobs training.

Gov. Schwarzenegger also missed his chance to tell California that he’s going to halt his unproductive efforts to suspend California’s environmental laws, after balking at signing a state budget fix that didn’t include enough rollbacks of California’s treasured environmental protections.

As the Governor concluded his remarks today, “Let us resolve the budget crisis, so that we can get on with the people’s work.”

And, we might add, let’s get the Green Economic Stimulus Plan in place, so we can get people to work!