Schwarzenegger the environator?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the type of guy you would necessarily associate with tree-hugging. When he bought a Hummer in the early 1990s, it kicked off a nationwide craze for the gas-guzzling behemoths. His lighter-fluid-dowsed action flicks and protein-packed chest bespoke more of American excess than environmentalism.

But as governor of California, Schwarzenegger has engaged in a savvy makeover befitting a Hollywood star. He retooled one of his four Hummers to run on alternative fuels and is quickly fashioning himself into one of the most aggressively pro-environment governors in a state known for leading the nation on the issue.

This year he signed the nation’s first environmental law of its kind, committing the state to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020 and setting up an international program that provides manufacturers with incentives to lower carbon emissions, which is supposed to begin by 2012. He has vowed to fight any attempt to drill for oil off California’s coast.

And now Schwarzenegger, a Republican, wants to use his star power to turn global warming into an issue in the 2008 presidential election. “There is a whole new movement because of the change of people sent to Washington,” Schwarzenegger said in an interview last week, referring to the Democratic Party’s impending takeover of Congress. “We want to put the spotlight on this issue in America. It has to become a debate in the presidential election. It has to become an issue.”

Schwarzenegger’s relationship with the Bush administration and the conservative wing of the Republican Party has been rocky. He has clashed with Bush over stem cell research – Schwarzenegger favors, Bush opposes – dispatching the National Guard to do border enforcement – Bush ordered, Schwarzenegger opposed – and legalizing the purchase of prescription drugs from Canada – Bush opposes, Schwarzenegger favors.

But no other issue divides the governor and the president as much as global warming. Schwarzenegger’s embrace of the issue is clearly a gambit on the part of a politician with big ambitions. Analysts say he could run for the Senate in 2010. He cannot run for president because he was not born in the United States.

Schwarzenegger made no bones about his exasperation with the Bush administration’s refusal to allow California to become the first state in the nation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. A request in 2005 for that authority has received no response from the Environmental Protection Agency. The question of whether the EPA – or other agencies – should regulate greenhouse gases is being considered by the Supreme Court.

“We are going to find a way to do it, no matter what anyone says,” Schwarzenegger said. “We have to make moves that protect the health of the people. That’s our No. 1 priority.”

Schwarzenegger argued that in a “Nixon goes to China” way he is uniquely poised to lead on the environmental front. Calling himself a “sane Republican,” he said his pro-business philosophy and fiscal conservatism shield him from accusations of being “the tree-hugger, the crazy guy out there who wants to live on the moon and talk about the spirits and all this holistic stuff.”

“With me they can’t do it, because my whole history is different,” he said, puffing thoughtfully on a fat cigar in his smoking tent in a courtyard of the state Capitol. “It’s unexpected, so therefore you have a better chance to have an impact. … All those businesses would never have a better guy than me.”

Schwarzenegger asserted that his embrace of the issue has helped prompt other Republicans to change their tune on the environment. Republican presidential hopefuls have reached out to Schwarzenegger’s team to talk about global warming, an aide noted.

While other states are also far out ahead of the federal government on global warming, California is the place to lead the country on green issues, he contended. This state “is really in a unique position because we have such an impact on the world,” he said.

California’s two senators, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, have told officials in Sacramento that they intend to model federal legislation on California’s greenhouse gas legislation. Schwarzenegger said he is ready to go to Washington to testify about the issue.

Environmental groups, rarely inclined to support a Republican, have grudgingly given Schwarzenegger decent marks. “Schwarzenegger has really taken the lead on greenhouse gases, more so than almost any American politician,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of Washington-based Clean Air Watch. “His state is the leading edge of many of our problems, but it’s also the leading edge of many of their solutions.”

In California, Schwarzenegger’s pro-environmental position is part of a bipartisan tradition. Since the 1960s, the state, bedeviled by the worst air quality in the United States, has led the nation in tackling pollutants. In 1961, it mandated the first automotive emission control technology in the nation.

The state’s tough regulations have resulted in improvements. Schwarzenegger recalled that when he first moved to California, his workouts on Muscle Beach in Venice left him with teary eyes.

“They were just burning all the time, and now I’ve never felt that again. It’s just gone. That is unbelievable progress,” he said. “It’s all because of the Clean Air Act and the catalytic converter. All those kind of things that were done in the ‘70s which everyone fought about and said that business would go down and everyone was going to move from California and the world was going to be flat again and all this drama. And look what happened? The whole world is doing it.”