The universal government urge to "do something", anything, even if it makes no sense.

From Mercury News

Schwarzenegger Calls on Western Governors to Fight Global Warming
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that Western states must work together to reduce greenhouse gasses in the fight against global warming.

I wish that once, just ONCE, some reporter or politician would get the spelling of "gases" right. "Gasses" is the third person singular form of the verb "gas" meaning "to administer gas" or "to talk in an empty, idle, or boastful way". Oh, wait............

"We are long past the time when we can just talk about this problem," Schwarzenegger said Sunday at the annual meeting of the Western Governors' Association. "We must take action."

Such as what?

Schwarzenegger, a Republican running for re-election, pointed to California's work to try to reduce emissions by 33 percent by 2020.

"In California, we now have a booming economy and are taking care of the environment, so it can be done," Schwarzenegger told governors at the three-day conference.

Schwarzenegger applauded the work of the Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee, a 250-member group that has spent the past two years studying energy issues in the West.

The committee released its report Sunday, concluding that the Western states could meet or exceed several goals, including developing an additional 30,000 megawatts of clean energy by 2015, increasing energy efficiency 20 percent by 2020 and ensuring secure, reliable transmission for the next 25 years.

The governors adopted three resolutions regarding energy issues, including:

_Approving a two-year report that recommends ways to achieve a more clean and diversified energy portfolio in 10 years, including calling upon Congress to pass federal tax credits for energy efficiency investments.

_A call for more investment in ethanol, biodiesel, electricity, natural gas and the transmission grid needed to support it. The resolution was designed to call to attention the country's dependence on foreign oil as a national security risk and environmental concern.

_A resolution asking Western states to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The resolution urges federal agencies to invest in climate change research and support coordinated international research on the issue.

Oh, they approved reports and resolutions. That's what I call taking action. And it appears that the second one wasn't targeted at climate at all, but our dependence on foreign oil. Even the first one had more to do with saving CA from future embarrassing electricity shortages than stopping global warming. But I guess of you tack "global warming" onto your press release it's more likely to get attention. As for the third one, the federal government already throws plenty of money at climate research. About $173 million was given to NOAA alone last year for climate studies. That amount doesn't include climate projects funded under other agencies or money given to international efforts like the UN's Council on Climate Change. We all should realize by now that more federal money does not equal better science, and the actual science may not support our preconceived conclusions (preclusions?), but nobody seems particularly interested in the science any more.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, said research into alternative energy could reduce dependence on foreign oil and create engineering jobs.

"Unless you're living naked in a tree and eating nuts, you're part of the problem, and I'd like to hear your solution," he said.

Well, even if you're doing that you're still breathing out CO2, the dreaded greenhouse gas. And if your diet consists mostly of nuts, you're probably emitting plenty of methane (an even more potent greenhouse gas!) out the other end.

Sunday is the first time Schwarzenegger has attended the association's annual meeting since taking office in 2003.

Just to get that headline, I'm sure.

States represented at the governors' meeting include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

But they didn't get their names in the title.