Promising “painful” budget recommendations to come, California Gov. Jerry Brown reaffirmed his commitment to renewable energy and efficiency programs as part of a sobering inaugural speech following his swearing in last Monday in Sacramento as the 39th governor of the state. Missing in his brief remarks was any mention of climate change, environmental issues or traditional fossil fuels.

However, later in the first week of the year, Brown reappointed the state’s top official overseeing implementation of California’s five-year-old, precedent-setting climate change law (AB 32) among other cabinet-level positions that were filled strictly on a partisan political basis. Mary Nichols, a long-time high-ranking environmental attorney/administrator, has worked with Brown and other Democrat elected officials throughout a career that spans both Sacramento and Washington, DC.

Brown, assuming the state’s CEO role for the second time having served two terms (1975-1983) previously, said he has set a goal of having 20,000 MW of renewable-based power supplies in the state by 2020, even as he warned that the current “undertow” of a prolonged national recession calls for “assessing our financial condition honestly and making tough choices.”

The new governor said he intends to meet the renewable energy goal by “the [regulatory] appointments I make and the actions they take.” There are two positions on the California Public Utilities Commission and one on the California Energy Commission that Brown has to fill immediately (see related story). He could also change the head regulator at each agency.

“There are hundreds of thousands of new jobs to be created if California regulatory authorities [in energy and other sectors] make sensible and bold decisions,” Brown said. “It will also be necessary to make sure that our laws and rules focus on our most important objectives, minimizing delays and unnecessary costs.”

In regard to the latter, Brown appeared to plan to continue the push of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has fashioned some fast-track permitting for renewable and major electric transmission line projects involving both state and federal authorities.

Just before the Christmas holiday last month, California adopted a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions, with Nichols and other state officials identifying the regulation as the cornerstone of a five-year process to implement AB 32 at the start of next year.

Nichols called the new program “the capstone” of the state’s climate policy. “It rewards efficiency and provides companies with the greatest flexibility to find innovative solutions that drive green jobs, clean our environment, increase our energy security and ensure that California stands ready to compete in the booming global market for clean and renewable energy,” Nichols said.

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