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Western Governors’ Association meeting focuses on water use, climate change and energy, but Schwarzenegger not in attendance

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2009 at 7:50 am

From the Associated Press:

It’s an old quip in the West: Whiskey’s for drinkin’ and water’s for fightin’. Only these days, there’s more people with a stake in the fight for water and a dwindling supply. Quenching the growing demand for water in the warming West will require a bigger push for conservation, innovative technology and a rethinking of supply and demand, Western governors and water experts said Sunday.

The three-day Western Governors’ Association meeting that began Sunday focuses on key issues that affect states throughout the West, including water use, climate change and energy. This year — with several cabinet members from the Obama administration and a record attendance — the political landscape has shifted and there’s a renewed urgency for swapping ideas and working together, attendees said.

Sunday’s main discussion, which included Canadian officials and experts from the Middle East and Australia, focused on managing water amid changing climate conditions.

Although many of the controversies in the West center around urbanization, natural resources and energy development, water — and often the lack of it — comes up again and again. “Water is connected to all those things,” said panelist Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank based in Oakland, Calif.

Read more from the Associated Press by clicking here.

The Salt Lake Tribune notes some important governors are not in attendance:

The governors focused Sunday on varied topics and approved resolutions to start a work group for mapping a strategy to cope with climate change; urge a partnership with regional and national governments to address global warming; and two resolutions on transportation and storage of nuclear waste .

While many western governor’s attended the conference, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were conspicuous by their absences.

Prominent pollster and message expert Frank Luntz addressed the conference and shared results of opinion research his firm did earlier this year to gauge American attitudes on how well — or poorly — leaders are doing in addressing the concerns of the American public.

Westerners are more negative and more concerned about the direction the nation is going than any other region, he said. And they are more worried about losing their jobs and more confident that solutions lie in state capitols than in Washington. “What the West is saying is ‘enough,’” said Luntz, “solve it already and let’s move on.”

Read more from the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking here.