{"id":11819,"date":"2011-03-19T09:31:57","date_gmt":"2011-03-19T16:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=11819"},"modified":"2011-03-19T09:31:57","modified_gmt":"2011-03-19T16:31:57","slug":"air-board-chief-one-on-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/03\/19\/air-board-chief-one-on-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Board Chief One-on-One"},"content":{"rendered":"

My experiment in audience participation falls short<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had the chance to sit down for a few minutes with California’s top air regulator today. Mary Nichols, who chairs the state’s Air Resources Board <\/a>joined us by satellite from Sacramento. The seven-minute interview will air on KQED’s This Week in Northern California<\/em><\/a>, Friday evening.<\/p>\n

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Nichols after a day-long public hearing in December of last year. (Photo: Craig Miller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Wednesday, blogger Jon Brooks posted a call for questions<\/a> on “News Fix,” the KQED News blog. It was a worthwhile experiment but the results speak to the extent to which Nichols has become a lightning rod for opponents of environmental regulation in general and cap & trade in particular — and to some degree the state of public policy discourse in America today. The comments, some emailed and some posted on the comments thread at News Fix were largely a stream of invective directed at Nichols and the Air Board. Some questions were a bit technical for a seven-minute TV interview. Others were valid but off-topic. As the latest installment in our series of “Climate Watch Conversations,” I tried to keep to the climate-related business of the Board (with one exception: I felt I needed to have her address events unfolding in Japan and concerns here about radioactive drift).<\/p>\n

Nonetheless I was able to cull a few for this brief interview. Several questions make it clear that some remain convinced that implementation of AB 32 will be a drag on California’s economic recovery:<\/p>\n

Corey<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“Don’t you think that now is a time to worry about jobs and the well-being of people? Do you understand how many jobs this bill will kill? Do you understand that the amount of “green” jobs created will still not cover the jobs lost?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can hear all of her answers in the video segment<\/a> posted on the This Week<\/em> site and below.
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