A Not So Clean Environmental Award?

Yesterday, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced his annual "environmental leadership awards." No real news there. But one of the recipients was Pardee homes, a development company that according to a Capitol Weekly report, "is a major Schwarzenegger donor. The company has given $72,300 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team in 2004 and 2005, along with another $22,300 to Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign in March." One of Pardee's signature development projects this year was rejected in Livermore by voters after the company spent millions trying to pass the pro-growth measure. The project of this "environmental award winning" company was opposed by the Sierra Club and Greenbelt Alliance. And in early October, Capitol Weekly also reported that "Pardee Homes held a press conference in Livermore saying it would include solar power in 100 percent of the homes it would build in the proposed Livermore Trails development. Nowhere in the local November ballot initiative, however, does it actually say that Pardee Homes would be required to install solar technology." At the press conference, supporting the Pardee development was Joe Desmond, chairman of the California Energy Commission and an appointee of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now Pardee may be the model of sustainable practices, but donating to the governor, and then having the CEC Chair speak out for your project and then receiving a governor-given environmental award raises questions.