Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, and Google executive Eric Schmidt appear at a news conference about global warming Wednesday on Treasure Island.
In 2100, Fisherman’s Wharf would become Fisherman’s Bay, the baseball diamond at AT&T Park would flood and two major Bay Area airports would better serve seaplanes under a climate change model unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Google.
The governor released a new report determining that global warming, left unabated, would lead to higher sea levels, greater wildfire risks and less water supply over the next century, based on research compiled by the California Energy Commission.
Schwarzenegger also convened a panel of 23 experts from various sectors to review the 200-page report and draft final policy recommendations for the governor and Legislature by July.
The governor and legislative Democrats in 2006 approved a new law requiring California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. But the governor said Wednesday that “we must also be prepared if climate change continues to worsen.”
The California Energy Commission spent $150,000 in partnership with Google to develop a new Google Earth application that shows sea level changes in the Bay Area, as well as increased wildfire risks and snowpack reductions throughout the state. The energy commission also maintains a climate change research unit on which it spent $2.4 million in 2007.
Schwarzenegger called the latest efforts a “Plan B” in case global warming continues. He said the state faces as much as $2.5 trillion in costs related to risks from climate change.
In its report, the California Natural Resources Agency makes a dozen recommendations, including one suggesting that governments may wish to restrict new development in areas vulnerable to flood, fire or erosion. Among those areas is the manmade Treasure Island, where Schwarzenegger held his news conference.
“It’s about considering those impacts,” said Tony Brunello, the agency’s deputy secretary for climate change and energy. “We’re not saying the sky is falling. We’re giving people real information so they don’t lose millions of dollars.”
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, questioned the science. He pointed to an incident last month in which hackers obtained hundreds of e-mails from a British university server, some of which included statements from climate-change researchers that raised questions about their findings. Scientists said the e-mails showed the researchers were only human and made inappropriate casual remarks. But skeptics seized upon the documents as proof that global warming projections are flawed.
“Combined with the $21 billion deficit we’re facing in the coming year, this shows we ought to be focusing our attention on more mundane things like living within our means,” DeVore said. “To use this all-encompassing rubric of climate change as a power grab to usurp property rights is something we shouldn’t be doing.”
Brunello said, however, that the new state report largely serves an advisory purpose and that local governments would have to decide for themselves whether to pursue land-use changes.