Over at the California political blog Calitics, David Dayen picks up on the same ultimate conclusion we reached yesterday about the relative impact of yesterday's decision by Judge Jenkins-- namely that given the weight of last week's Vermont ruling and the fact that Brown is "using every option at his disposal" in his fight against global warming, momentum remains strong for his office's efforts.
Dayen touts another clear victory we'd been meaning to write about-- Brown's landmark agreement last week with ConocoPhillips, in which the oil giant agreed to offset the carbon emissions impact of a forthcoming East Bay refinery to the tune of $10 million. Further coverage notes that the settlement is already putting pressure on a planned Chevron facility.
And to top things off, we'd like to note that this settlement, coming on the heels of Brown's agreement on a smarter growth plan with San Bernardino County officials, further undercuts the critics who held up California's budget in hopes of reining in his efforts. Those individuals declared that they were standing up for put-upon business interests and local governments, only to spin around just in time to see those same groups begin to cooperate rather amicably with Brown.
During Brown's recent appearance before the California League of Cities' annual conference, he sought to further enlist local officials in his efforts to thwart climate change through smarter planning. New West Notes covers the crowd's reaction:
...Brown said this to the convention of local government officials that the state Senate budget holdouts were ostensibly protecting: “Now is the time to take what action you can and I do believe... when you take the collective strength of all your diverse membership, you can make the difference. And so I want to join with you in helping you do that. Of course if you don’t I may sue you. So let’s make this easy for both of us, just do what I’m telling you to do, and you’ll become more popular, and I’ll become less unpopular, and everything will work just fine.”
That was met with laughter and a standing ovation.
Every option at his disposal indeed, his sense of humor included. Agree or disagree with each of those moves, and whether he wins every battle or not, Brown is going about this all in a deliberate way that merits recognition and a close eye on what he does next.
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