Arnold Schwarzenegger made lots of friends on the left when he declared that he won’t wait for federal action to combat global warming. Mr. Schwarzenegger announced a plan of mandatory carbon-dioxide emission reductions of 15% in the Golden State by the year 2020.
Now other states and even localities are catching the green wave. Washington, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico have announced their own emissions reduction programs through regulatory mandates on businesses, homeowners and commuters. Washington’s new law will require a reduction in emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 50% below that by 2050. In Seattle, King County Executive Ron Sims has proposed his own plan to save the planet from climate change. "Global warming will be the defining issue for humankind in the 21st century," he says.
Quite possibly greenhouse gas emissions will indeed fall in these western states — because the new laws will kill economic activity and impel people to move out. A new American Legislative Exchange Council study shows that states with high levels of business regulation lose jobs, income and businesses to low-regulation states. "People are voting with their feet against high taxes and regulatory excess," the study finds. California, for instance, has already been losing Americans to other states in the past three years, according to Census data. "This state is on a collision course with economic ruin," says Arthur Laffer, the economist who recently moved out because of high taxes and stifling regulation.
Not that these mandates are likely to have any appreciable impact on global climate trends. The booming economies of China, India, Brazil and others will offset many times over any reductions these states make. Yet even Florida, a conservative state, is looking to combat global climate change. "Unless greenhouse gases are sharply reduced in coming decades, Florida could face environmental catastrophe, with rising seas, increasingly violent weather and severe droughts, Gov. Charlie Crist said last month. He wants to replace fossil fuels with solar energy, because Florida is the "sunshine state."
Michael Sanera, research director of the John Locke Foundation, predicts that many more states are likely to follow the lead of the westerners. "These are politically correct directives from government even if they don’t help the environment," he says.