Former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger honored the ten-year anniversary of the state’s climate law, which he enacted under his administration.
“Ten years ago we passed a law that I think is the most powerful environmental law, period,” Schwarzenegger said at a reception marking its passage. He reflected upon meetings with federal regulators who opposed his early efforts to combat climate change and suggested instead further study. “I said, ‘Do you want to be strapped with your mouth on the exhaust pipe while we turn on the engine and see how long it would take you to tap out?'” he said. “How stupid must you be to say that greenhouse gas is not a pollutant?”
“We pushed back and pushed back and we terminated them,” he said in reference to efforts funded mostly by oil and gas and coal interests to dismantle the law.
Watch his animated delivery of this story below: