Governor Schwarzenegger will sign a bill tomorrow/today (Thursday) that allows for construction of a professional football stadium in the Los Angeles area.
But, opponents say the measure sets a dangerous precedent by relaxing environmental standards.
Capital Public Radio's Steve Shadley reports...
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The 75-thousand seat, 800-million dollar stadium and retail center will be built in the City of Industry in hopes of attracting another NFL team to California.
Governor Schwarzenegger says the project provides a much-needed boost to the area’s economy...
Schwarzenegger: “The financing is available for that and it will create a tremendous amount of jobs. It will create a great amount of entertainment for the area there because sports is (sic) always a great way of entertaining people...people love football...”
Dan Jacobson is with Environment California, a group that opposes the stadium.
He says lawmakers and the governor are gutting environmental regulations in a rush to create thousands of jobs...
Jacobson: “In this particular instance its like saying the baseball Dodgers are going to play the football Raiders. The two just don’t match up.
There are so many ways that you can protect and promote the environment and expand our economy. But, by trying to roll back the key environmental laws in the state is bad policy and bad precedent for California...”
Environmentalists fear the stadium will harm local water supplies and create too much traffic and air pollution.
And, they’re worried the state will waive environmental rules for other big construction projects in the future.