— Notes contributions of Cummins-Westport and Clean Energy —

California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was joined by British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell at an economic trade summit in Vancouver, British Columbia on May 31 to promote collaboration between the state and the province along many fronts.

Schwarzenegger said that California's determination to slash greenhouse gas emissions is touching off a "new gold rush" worth tens of billions of dollars for companies taking a stake in the booming green energy sector. (California has the 7th largest economy in the world in GDP.) The state is eager to build relationships with businesses that can assist it meet its tough new environmental goals, such as the low carbon fuel emissions standards adopted this year.

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell joined with Schwarzenegger in calling for the collaboration. They signed a memorandum of understanding committing California and British Columbia to work together to cap greenhouse gas emissions, collaborate on development and implementation of green technologies and join in building a hydrogen highway along the west coast of North America.

According to news reports, Campbell lauded Schwarzenegger's leadership on issues such as improved emission standards for automobiles. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger cited a Vancouver manufacturer of low-emission truck engines as an example of the market opportunities and business relationships opening up in California for companies based in B.C.

"The ports of Los Angeles for instance and Long Beach are buying trucks with natural gas engines right now that are made by a British Columbia company (Cummins-Westport)," said Schwarzenegger.

"These engines are helping us meet our emission standards, and a California company (Clean Energy) has seized this opportunity to build stations to fuel those trucks. That's how we are working together."

Clean Energy is a major provider of natural gas for transportation in both California and British Columbia.