Phil Angelides: For enviros, California is the strongest bulwark against Bush administration

Environmental protection is, and has always been, at the center of my work
in my career both as a businessman and elected official, and it will be a
centerpiece of my work as governor. For California to succeed in the global
economy of the 21st century, we must have the most livable communities and
the cleanest environment.

With the Bush administration and the Republican Congress leading an all-out
attack on the environmental standards and protections created over the last
generation, it is essential that California’s governor stand up to protect
our environment and offer the nation and the world a model for a sustainable
future.

More than any other candidate for governor, I have demonstrated that I have
the strength, conviction and experience to protect the environment. As
governor, I will build upon the work I’ve done in both the private sector
and as state treasurer, and I will fight every day to have California use
wisely what nature has given us and preserve it for the generations of
Californians to come.

As a successful businessman for 15 years prior to being elected as
treasurer, I demonstrated my commitment to the environment. In 1989, I
fought successfully to close Sacramento’s Rancho Seco nuclear-power plant.
And, dissatisfied with the impacts of suburban sprawl, I planned and built
the community of Laguna West, near Sacramento, which was featured in Time,
Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report as a model of a livable, walkable,
environmentally sustainable community–good for families and good for
business.

As California treasurer, I have strived to enhance California’s quality of
life and economic competitiveness with innovative investment policies and
programs that foster sustainable development and sound environmental
practices.

My groundbreaking Green Wave environmental-investment initiative has led
California’s pension funds to invest $1.5 billion in renewable energy,
cutting-edge environmental technologies, and environmentally responsible
companies; to push companies to address the financial risks posed by
environmental liabilities and global warming; and to reduce energy
consumption by their massive real-estate holdings.

My nationally recognized “smart investments” and “double bottom line”
initiatives have redirected more than $20 billion in state investments to
curb sprawl; spur economic progress in urban, inner-city communities; and
promote energy-efficient and sustainable-development practices.

As treasurer, I sponsored a law to stop the state from buying wasteful SUVs
and to require the administration to green the state’s fleet of 70,000
vehicles to be the most fuel-efficient in the world, as well as legislation
to open California’s high-occupancy vehicle lanes to hybrid and other
fuel-efficient, advanced-technology automobiles.

As governor, I will set a goal to reduce California’s gasoline and diesel
use by 25 percent in 10 years, building on the work I’ve done as treasurer
and making California the world leader in developing clean and renewable
fuels. I have laid out a detailed plan to reach that goal, as well as a
comprehensive plan to guard the coast. I will fight every day to protect
California’s coastline and forests, and improve the quality of the air we
breathe and the water we drink.

While we have a history of elected leaders who talk a good game on the
environment, I am deeply devoted to making our government actually work,
effectively and efficiently, for the people of California. That is what I
have done in the private sector and in my current public office, which is
why I have earned the support of the Sierra Club, Vote the Coast, and more
than 70 prominent environmental leaders across the state. I will bring the
same values and energy every day to the office of governor.