Countywide : Silva Joins Air Resources Board

The state Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva to the California Air Resources Board, despite criticism that he is antienvironment.

Silva won the Senate’s blessing on a 26-4 vote after Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) blasted the supervisor as someone who puts the interests of business ahead of health and environmental concerns.

Lockyer said Silva “reflects the philosophy and perspective of those from his part of the state, which is central Orange County.”

During testimony before the Senate Rules Committee Silva “had very little sympathy or understanding of environmental issues at all,” Lockyer said.

But Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange) called Silva “fairly even-tempered and moderate” and someone who is “very sympathetic to the environment.”

Lewis said the one aspect of Silva’s testimony before the Rules Committee that might have ruffled a liberal like Lockyer was his insistence on “some kind of balance” between business and environmental concerns.

Silva also defended his record on the environment, noting that as a Huntington Beach councilman he fought efforts by pro-business groups to put restaurants on the beachfront.

The Air Resources Board is the top agency for cleaning up California’s air, regulating motor vehicles and products such as fuel and paint.

The biggest issue facing the agency this year is the debate over requirements that auto firms begin distribution of electric cars before the end of the decade.

Silva said he has driven an electric car, and that it twice broke down on the freeway.

Such glitches aside, he sees a future for the vehicle, but suggested that “no matter what we do, it has to be market-driven. We can mandate all sorts of programs, but if the people aren’t going to buy the car, the program won’t work.”

Silva was appointed to the state’s smog board last February by Gov. Pete Wilson and has been awaiting confirmation by the Senate.