Hearing on New California Air Board Chief
Here on Independence Day, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata has sent a letter to Governornator himself which essentially reveals the nub of the matter when it comes to confirmation of Mary Nichols to replace Bob Sawyer as Chair of the
California Air Resources Board (CARB): Whether or not she will follow AB 32 and implement it, as the law is written, reported esteemed journalist Frank D. Russo on the California progress Report website.
This is an interesting lesson, according to Russo, regarding the rule of law and in the independence of state boards in implementing all the details written into statutes and remaining trustworthy to the actual framework of them. The Governorator has the authority to appoint and remove the eleven members of this particular board, he correctly points out, which has generally been allowed to function more or less on it’s own without any arbitrary interference in the past.
However, major league interference was cited by the
Executive Director, Catherine Witherspoon, in her letter of resignation as the reason for why she exited.
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The Governor, having attempted a few end runs around CARB, has in past weeks tried to assert control of the board, and failing in that has removed it’s chair altogether. At stake in this fight clean air and a reduction in greenhouse gases which may cause global warming, and why it has become a such a crucial issue in California in recent years.
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Critics on his website pointed out an alternate view, that basically to pass large quantities of funds from the tax base, through the hands of elected officials to “manage wisely” seems like a recipe for a fiasco (look at where California is today regarding air quality, even with the most “aggressive” regulations in the nation, they point out).