B.C. ready for gold rush, Schwarzenegger says

California eager to strike relationships with green companies

Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
Friday, June 01, 2007

California's determination to slash greenhouse gas emissions is touching off a "new gold rush" worth tens of billions of dollars for companies taking a stake in the booming green energy sector, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Thursday at an economic summit in Vancouver.

Schwarzenegger said his state, which has a larger economy than all but six of the world's developed nations, is eager to strike relationships with businesses that can help California meet tough new emission standards adopted last year.

Those standards are tougher than anything the U.S. federal government has thus far implemented to help slow the pace of global warming.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (right)
with Premier Gordon Campbell,
predicts closer ties with B.C.
Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun

Schwarzenegger said British Columbia is already one of the winners in what he expects will be the biggest explosion of economic opportunity since gold fever struck the West Coast a century and a half ago.

Schwarzenegger noted that in the 1850s, the territories of what are now California and British Columbia were the site of gold rushes that "shaped our history and led to unprecedented growth."

"Ladies and gentlemen we have the opportunity once again. The Wall Street Journal has just said that our new fuel standard has companies eager to supply low-carbon products to California's $50-billion annual transportation fuel market. They call it California's new gold rush.

"With your willingness to be innovative in clean technology, you are poised to start British Columbia's new gold rush."

The summit, which took place at the Bayshore Hotel, was jointly staged by the Business Council of British Columbia and the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth.

The former action movie superstar and international body building champion was joined on stage by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who made jokes at his own expense about being upstaged by his world-famed counterpart.

Campbell described the governor as "a true leader who has taken the gift of celebrity to make the world a better place for all of us, for all of our children, for all of our grandchildren."

The duo capped their appearance by signing a Memorandum of Understanding committing the state and the province to work together to cap greenhouse gas emissions, collaborate on development and implementation of green technologies, and join other U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions in building a 'hydrogen highway' between B.C. and Baja California.

Campbell lauded Schwarzenegger's leadership on issues such as improved emission standards for automobiles.

Schwarzenegger cited the success of Westport Innovations, a manufacturer of low-emission truck engines, as an example of the market opportunities and business relationships opening up in California for companies based in B.C.

"The ports of Los Angeles, for instance, and Long Beach are buying right now trucks with natural gas engines that are made by a British Columbia company.

"These engines are helping us meet our emission standards, and a California company has seized this opportunity to build stations to fuel those trucks. That's how we are working together."

As an indication of the size and scope of the opportunities, Schwarzenegger noted a decision by General Electric to concentrate its research and development investments in products that help lower emissions.

"GE sales of green, clean technology products is $12 billion annually," Schwarzenegger said. "They are now just investing in green, clean technology because that's where the profits and the growth is.

"Their goal is by 2010 to sell $20 billion worth of goods and they are already backlogged by $50 billion. So that is the kind of growth you see in that area."

Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of British Columbia and a panelist at the Pacific Economic Summit, noted that B.C. already has a robust economic relationship with California.

But he said that state's surging interest in energy efficiency and low-emission technology could add billions of dollars to that relationship.

"California with its tough standards on environment is kind of a leading test bed market for a lot of innovative technologies and the Westport story is a classic case of that," Finlayson said.

"California is proving to be an attractive market for them because it's big, but also because it's leading edge. For industries here that are in the clean tech space, California is a natural market.

"California's GDP is 20 per cent bigger than Canada's, and it's almost right next to us. We've got a two-way $5-billion US trade relationship with California and you can easily see that increasing by a factor of two or three over the next 10 years.

"It's an exciting market and it's one we can do more business with."

One of the exhibitors at the summit, Donald McInnes, believes independent power producers will benefit from California's appetite for green electricity.

"One of the reasons for this initiative is to help California meet its needs," said McInnes, president of Plutonic Power, an independent green electricity producer that has several power sales agreements with BC Hydro -- and plans to seek more.

"I'm excited because B.C. Hydro has the ability to contract with us and other renewable power developers and package our product, green electricity, into a better product for California.

"For the Californian utilities to come up here and try to do a deal with 40 different companies like Plutonic, well, the logistics of it would be unbearable."

ssimpson@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Governor sees green 'gold rush' for B.C.

Scott Simpson, Doug Ward and Catherine Rolfsen;
With files, CanWest News Service
Times Colonist
Friday, June 01, 2007

VANCOUVER -- California's determination to slash greenhouse gas emissions is touching off a "new gold rush" worth tens of billions of dollars for companies taking a stake in the booming green energy sector, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday at an economic summit in Vancouver.

Schwarzenegger said his state, which has a larger economy than all but six of the world's national governments, is eager to strike relationships with businesses that can help California meet tough new emission standards adopted last year.

The former action movie superstar and body builder was joined on stage by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
with Premier Gordon Campbell. The
governor is visiting Canada with a
green message.
CanWest News Service

The duo capped their appearance by signing a memorandum of understanding committing the state and the province to work together to cap greenhouse gas emissions, collaborate on development and implementation of green technologies, and join other U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions in building a hydrogen highway between B.C. and California.

Campbell lauded Schwarzenegger's leadership on issues such as improved emission standards for automobiles. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger cited a Vancouver manufacturer of low-emission truck engines as an example of the market opportunities and business relationships opening up in California for companies based in B.C.

"The ports of Los Angeles, for instance, and Long Beach are buying right now trucks with natural gas engines that are made by a British Columbia company," said Schwarzenegger. "That's how we are working together."

Schwarzenegger noted that 150 years ago, the territories of what are now California and British Columbia were the site of gold rushes that "shaped our history and led to unprecedented growth."

"We have the opportunity once again. The Wall Street Journal has just said that our new fuel standard has companies eager to supply low carbon products to California's $50-billion annual transportation fuel market. They call it California's new gold rush.

"With your willingness to be innovative in clean technology, you are poised to start British Columbia's new gold rush."

B.C. environmental groups said there's a gaping disconnect between California and B.C., despite the memorandum of understanding.

While Campbell is an enthusiastic proponent of lifting the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration, Schwarzenegger wants the U.S. moratorium kept in place.

A letter to the U.S. government last September, signed by the governors of California, Oregon and Washington, says, "For the last 25 years, Congress has protected our coasts with the moratorium and we believe it should remain in place in perpetuity."

Oonagh O'Connor of the Living Oceans Society said she hopes Schwarzenegger will help Campbell change his mind about offshore exploration.

Charles Campbell of the Dogwood Initiative said there is obviously a huge contradiction in the two policies, "But Premier Campbell is a relative newcomer to thinking green, so maybe he has not thought this one through."