By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party
The environmental crazies were on the loose in Chico yesterday, and they prevailed over good common sense. It was at the Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD) meeting, held at Chico City Hall yesterday morning that hard lefties showed up to assail the truth. I witnessed the whole thing and I’ll share it here, but first let me give you some back story.
The BCAQMD is a county board made up of ten local elected officials: All five county supervisors, plus one city councilor each from Chico, Biggs, Gridley, Oroville, and Paradise. Boards like this are usually set up to carry out unpopular air quality mandates without voters having much ability to retaliate (a voter in Biggs has no control over a councilor from Chico), meaning less accountability to the people. However, this year the board has what I would call a conservative majority, even if it’s a shaky one, and they’ve been doing a better job of representing the people versus the government.
At last month’s meeting, my favorite city council member, Angela Thompson of Biggs, suggested that the BCAQMD write a letter in support of the CA Jobs Initiative which would suspend AB32. AB32 is the Global Warming Solutions Act signed by the Governor is 2006 when he was trying to be the “Green” Governor. AB32 is also a draconian environmental bill that will impose numerous controls on the people and kill about a million jobs statewide. It’s actually not a long bill, but if you read it you’ll see it gives the California Air Resources Board a lot of open-ended power over our daily lives in the name of global warming. Should global warming ever be proven false by say, a Climate gate scandal or something crazy like snow in the Sierras in May (like it is now), there is NO provision to overturn this outrageous attack on our liberties.
AB32 was concocted during the height of the global warming doom and gloom scare several years ago. It was based on junk science and asks our state to adopt a “go it alone” stance on environmental bunk like cap and trade. Once implemented, there will be nothing to stop manufacturers from fleeing our state for states that have easier standards, which will cause more use of shipping and result in more carbon emissions than when we started! It will raise everyone’s fuel and energy prices and is predicted to cause us to lose about a million more jobs. 20% unemployment rate anyone?
So, this month the board got together to discuss the issue of AB 32 and Angela’s proposal to support overturning this tyrannical job-killing insult to anyone not drinking the socialist-environmental kool-aid. To pass anything on the board, however, it takes six votes, which means it’s easier to stop proposals than pass them. Angela once used this fact to stop the woodstove ban from being implemented by the board, although if you live in Chico your liberal city council members are going forward with it anyway.
Like I said earlier, the environmental whackos showed up in force. Butte Environmental Council was there, the Sierra Club, several guys with cargo pants and fleece vests (is this a uniform for the granola inclined?) and a lot of wispy gray-haired women without makeup. They all got up to talk about the horrors of private industry and how we needed to save the air in California. Of course, AB 32 doesn’t deal with air pollutants. It focuses on greenhouse gas emissions which are a different item, but don’t try to tell them that. Anyway the loony left was repetitively making their case until one really good speaker finally got up and a made a strong point for common sense. This was Colleen Cecil, executive director of the Butte County Farm Bureau. She pointed out all the additional costs to farmers that AB32 would bring, along with more jobs lost as some family farms simply couldn’t afford the strain. This is where things got interesting.
You see, Jane Dolan and Maureen Kirk are up for re-election this year, and Jane especially relies on support from farmers. No Jobs Jane seemed a little nervous about the farm bureau not agreeing with her that we should sacrifice ag jobs on the environmental alter and made some empty platitudes about hopefully giving farmers some waivers. In the end though, Jane Dolan and Maureen Kirk both voted against the interests of farmers and against the letter calling for suspension of AB32. They are both opposed in this year’s election by, respectively, Larry Wahl and Erny Spears. Both Wahl and Spears are conservatives who would be great additions to the air quality board.
Unfortunately the proposal didn’t pass. As I mentioned before, it takes six votes for passage, and two of our right of center board members didn’t show up. Angela (pictured right)
did get great support from Jamie Johansson (Oroville Vice Mayor and olive farmer), Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi (Paradise realtor), and Gridley’s Mayor Jerri Fichter (all four republican). On the NO side were No Jobs Jane Dolan, Supervisor Maureen Kirk, Chico’s Mayor Ann Schwaab, and Paradise Councilman Alan White. All are democrats with the exception of White who currently claims the republican title. Supervisors Bill Connelly and Steve Lambert were unfortunately not able to be there.
This fight is far from over. While the BCAQMD won’t be taking action, voters will still get the chance to suspend AB 32 by passing the California Jobs Initiative (sponsored by our own Assemblyman Dan Logue) this November. Chances are also good that you’re represented by someone on this board. You should contact your representative and let them know how you feel about their vote. I’m sure they won’t mind hearing from their constituents on this and getting a good piece of your mind.
Thanks for stopping and reading my article. As an army vet, college grad, and married father of three I enjoy sharing my conservative views about society and government and hope you enjoy it too. Your comments are always welcome.