Marine protection plan—a pet project of Terry Tamminen—comes to Seaside.

In August 2004 the Schwarzenegger administration announced its intention to resurrect plans to create the nation’s first network of protected marine reserves off California’s coast, a project that had been shut down eight months earlier for lack of money.

Cheered by environmentalists and marine biologists, the decision to revitalize the Marine Life Protection Act initiative set a green tone for Schwarzenegger’s administration that came as a surprise to many.

Yet for those who know Terry Tamminen, the Governor’s colorful environmental go-to guy, Schwarzenegger’s bold stand on ocean policy was expected.

Without Tamminen’s influence it is unlikely that the Governor’s Marine Life Protection Act blue-ribbon task force would be convening in Seaside this week. At the meeting, the task force will choose one of three marine protected area proposals for the Central Coast.

Tamminen, however, is quick to point out that “success has many parents.”

“The Governor himself is a big fan of California’s magnificent coastline, beaches, and ocean resources,” Tamminen says, also crediting Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman and “numerous private partners” with “moving ahead with Marine Life Protected Areas and other strategies to restore our oceans and coastline.”

Tamminen’s career in Sacramento has included stints as the head of California’s Environmental Protection Agency and as Schwarzenegger’s Cabinet Secretary. Now Tamminen, a Democrat, serves as the governor’s “special assistant for energy and environmental technologies,” a position created to keep Tamminen inside Schwarzenegger’s inner circle.

Tamminen’s didn’t take a direct path to political influence. Before becoming the man that Grist Magazine dubbed the “most powerful environmentalist outside of Washington,” Tamminen was a tropical fish breeder, a pool maintenance man, a US Coast Guard-licensed ship captain, a sheep rancher, a marine biologist and a real estate developer. For 15 years prior to joining state government in 2003, he was an environmental activist and the executive director of the Environment Now Foundation in Santa Monica.

At Tamminen’s urging, Schwarzenegger has made renewable energy a top priority, launching projects like the Hydrogen Highway and the Million Solar Roofs Initiative in an effort to accomplish what Tamminen calls “the goal of energy independence.”

Yet the firebrand attitude he’s brought to politics from his maverick background has also landed him in controversy.

While introducing former Vice President Al Gore at a Stanford event on global warming last year, Tamminen drew ire from Republicans with a David Letterman-esque list titled, “Five Things President Bush Says He Will Do To Address Global Warming.” Tamminen told the crowd that the president is considering the invasion of Silicon Valley to secure more solar panels and suggested “switching the power on Vice President Dick Cheney’s pacemaker to nuclear.”

Soon after, Schwarzenegger fired Tamminen from his position as Cabinet Secretary under heavy pressure from conservative activists, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

Yet when asked whether the governor altered his job title to mollify conservatives, the former environmental lobbyist is circumspect.

“The Governor has recruited staff from both parties and numerous independents too,” Tamminen says. “There’s no need to ‘mollify’ anyone when every point of view is well represented.”

THE MARINE LIFE PROTECTION ACT BLUE-RIBBON TASK FORCE Will meet 10am-6pm, Tuesday, March 14, and 8:30am-3pm, Wednesday, March 15, at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1441 Canyon Del Rey, Seaside.