Publisher’s Notebook: A Green Fairy Tale

‘The Governor and Cabrillo Port’

BY ANNE SOBLE

In honor of Earth Day, and with apologies to the Brothers and Sisters Grimm, we find ourselves wondering whether some of the critics of California’s newly-celebrated enviro pop star just don’t understand what’s going on in local energy politics. The script goes something like this: What if Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to send the BHP Billiton offshore liquefied natural gas facility to a watery grave, but is waiting until the last minute so he can take full credit for its demise? The governor won’t do anything until the May 21 deadline under the assumption that by then most people will have forgotten the valiant efforts of the two state agencies that courageously stood up to the international energy and mining behemoth this month and denied its efforts to wreak environmental havoc in the waters off Malibu and Oxnard. But then politics is less about facts than it is about images, isn’t it? This is even assuming that one isn’t talking about elected officials who are seeking reelection or higher office. Schwarzenegger may not be able to run for President of the United States, at least, not yet, but he certainly seems to be running for the post of Planet Earth’s environmental savior.

This is the man pictured balancing the world on his index finger. He says green is “hip” and “sexy.” What can this be but prelude to a studiously choreographed extravaganza that dwarfs the exploits of Conan and the Terminator? On May 21, Schwarzenegger will step forward on a well-lit stage that is verdantly draped, surrounded by a chorus of ethnically diverse school children, and he will say, “Hasta la vista, Cabrillo Port,” while members of the media take notes in rapt adoration. The world will applaud, and the governor will be crowned Emperor of Green.

You say this is nonsense? No one believes this can happen because Sacramento insiders say the fix is in? Huge donations, the hiring of friends and former staffers, the lavishing of a PR and lobbying budget that rivals the GNP of small nations, and an inherent disdain of Greenies and conservation, i.e. limits, restraints and self-control, will prevail? Perhaps, but if the fairy tale doesn’t come true, it becomes a horror story.