Schwarzenegger statues should celebrate his 'green' legacy as governor

Schwarzenegger statues should celebrate his 'green' legacy as governor

by Dan Bacher

Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has personally commissioned at least three statues of himself that depict the star of Terminator, Predator and other action movies in his "body-building prime." I recommend that he also commission three statues to "celebrate" his environmental legacy as Governor.

The scandal-ridden 64-year-old, who served as Governor from November 2003 to January 3, 2011, has ordered three "larger than life" bronze statues that will stand eight foot high and weigh 580 pounds each, according to the UK Telegraph on September 27.

The Telegraph reported one statue is destined for the recently-opened Schwarzenegger museum in his childhood home of Thal, Austria and another will be shipped to Columbus, Ohio, where the annual Arnold Fitness Weekend is held. "The actor will keep the third one, and is considering commissioning further likenesses," the publication noted. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8791928/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-commissions-statues-of-himself.html)

Schwarzenegger said he chose a bodybuilding pose because that's what launched his movie and political career in the United States.

"It was the bodybuilding that got me to America, that got me into movies, that got me the governorship," he told the Telegraph. "That's where I learned about reaching out and helping other people."

Tim Parks, the owner of Oregon-based TW Bronze, who was hired to pour the metal for the statues, told the New York Daily News that as many as seven of the behemoth statues may be created. (http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/09/26/2011-09-26_arnold_schwarzenegger_plans_to_have_at_least_three_buff_bronze_statues_of_himsel.html)

While Schwarzenegger wants the statues to commemorate the star in his body building prime, I recommend that he and the sculptor also design three statues to commemorate Governor Schwarzenegger's "green" legacy. There is no doubt that Schwarzenegger "reached and helped other people" - providing they were Wall Street executives, oil industry and other corporate lobbyists, agribusiness leaders, southern California water agency directors, other corrupt politicians and the rich and powerful!

The first statue, the "Fish Terminator," would portray the "action hero" standing triumphantly in a pile of thousands of dead Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steellhead, Sacramento splittail, green sturgeon and other fish species. This statue would commemorate Schwarzenegger's leadership role in killing millions of imperiled species in the state and federal Delta pumping facilities by exporting record amounts of water to southern California water agencies and corporate agribusiness from 2004 to 2006.

The second statue, the "Green Governor," would feature Schwarzenegger and Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, shaking hands as he congratulates her on her appointment as chair of Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative for the South Coast. The statue could either be a sickly green or oil brown color to celebrate the greenwashing that occurred under Schwarzeneggger's marine "protection" fiasco.

The big oil industry lobbyist, who has repeatedly called for the opening of new offshore oil drilling off the California coast, oversaw a privately funded process that failed to protect ocean waters from oil drilling and spills, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testing, wave and wind energy projects and all other human impacts other than fishing and gathering.

The third statue, "Arnold, the Canal Builder," would depict Schwarzenegger outfitted in a hard hat, with a shovel in one hand and a copy of the water policy/water bond package that he rammed through the Legislature in November 2009 in the other. Schwarzenegger would be addressing a rally of the agribusiness Astroturf group, the Latino Water Coalition, at the State Capitol to campaign for the construction of the peripheral canal to divert more Delta water to agribusiness and southern California.

These "larger than life" statues should be shipped to Thal, Austria to be displayed prominently in the museum celebrating Schwarzenegger's life.

Unfortunately, Schwarzenegger's abysmal environmental legacy continues. Governor Jerry Brown and Nature Resources Secretary John Laird, rather than doing the right thing and reversing Schwarzegger's war on fish, fishing communities and the environment, have decided to forge ahead with some of the worst of Schwarzenegger's "green" policies.

The Brown administration has presided over a fish kill at the Delta pumps this year that surpasses even those that took place during the Schwarzenegger administration. Since January 1, over 11,000,000 fish, including nearly 9,000,000 Sacramento splittail, have been "salvaged" in the Delta death pumps. This year is expected to set a new record for water exports via the state and federal pumping facilities.

Likewise, rather than suspending or halting the corrupt MLPA process and implementing a policy of true, wholistic marine protection, the Brown administration has continued forward with a process that has violated numerous state, federal and international laws. In fact, the Coastside Fishing Club, United Anglers of Southern California and Bob Fletcher have to date won three legal victories in a lawsuit against the initiative.

Finally, the Brown administration has joined Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) process to build a peripheral canal to meet the so-called "coequal goals" of water supply and ecosystem restoration. A coalition of Delta residents, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, family farmers, the Winnemem Wintu and other California Indian Tribes, local officials and environmental justice communities is opposing the peripheral canal's construction because it would lead to the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other imperiled fish species.

Not only will the BDCP lead to the extinction of endangered and threatened fish populations, but it will take large tracts of Delta farmland, among the most fertile and productive on the planet, out of production in a fake "habitat restoration" scheme so that water can be delivered to irrigate drainage-impaired land on the San Joaquin Valley's west side.

So while Schwarzenegger may now commission statues to commemorate his "heroic" status, his legacy of corporate greenwashing and environmental destruction sadly continues in the water and environmental policies embraced by the Brown and Obama administrations.

For more about Schwarzenegger's "green" legacy, go to: http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/11/arnolds-environmental-legacy/