Now that the freighter Cosco Busan has left us with thousands of dead birds and oily bay water, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled a sweeping new plan to prevent and contain future oil spills. What would that plan be? Training first-responded better and beefing up “administrative procedures.” What doesn’t the plan have? Money. In fact, the guv plans to divert money from the state’s oil spill prevention fund in order to deal with the budget crisis. Incoming state Senator Loni Hancock, meanwhile, has introduced a bill raising the fee on imported oil by three cents in order to deal with future environmental problems. Hancock, whose bill is opposed by Republican state lawmakers, told the Oakland Tribune that Schwarzenegger’s plan was just “window dressing.”
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