From Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution:
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress,…enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power,….
Someone should refresh the Governor’s memory from his citizenship classes, judging by this Associated Press article today:
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plan to lay the groundwork for a new trans-Atlantic market in carbon dioxide emissions. Such a move could help California cut carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases scientists blame for warming the planet. President Bush has rejected the idea of ordering such cuts.
At the very least, given the Senate’s express rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, the Governor is cutting it very close to terminating the Constitutional limits on his power with this bit of election year leftist activism. This activism by the way which doesn’t sound promising for the California economy:
A main target of the agreement between Britain and California is carbon from cars, trucks and other modes of transportation. Transportation accounts for an estimated 41 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions and 28 percent of Britain’s.
Mr. Schwarzenegger has called on California to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010. California was the 12th largest source of greenhouse gases in the world last year, bigger than most nations.
What does Phil Angelides think, I wonder? Oh, and oops: there’s that word agreement again.