Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used the fourth anniversary of the passage of California's landmark climate change law to slam Texas oil companies Valero and Tesoro for what he described as cynical attempts to manipulate voters into abandoning the law.

The governor's vehement defense of the climate legislation commonly referred to as AB32 comes amid a fierce campaign led by oil interests to win passage in November of Proposition 23, a ballot measure that calls for suspending the climate law until the jobless rate hits 5.5 percent for a year, a level achieved only three times in 40 years.

Schwarzenegger, speaking before several hundred people at the Commonwealth Club in Santa Clara, said the proponents of Prop. 23 are attempting to subvert the democratic process using scare tactics. He likened the campaign to a shell game hiding what he said was the real purpose: "self-serving greed."

"They are creating a shell argument that they are doing this to protect jobs," the governor said. "Does anybody really believe they are doing this out of the goodness of their black oil hearts - spending millions and millions of dollars to save jobs?"

Schwarzenegger said AB32, which he signed into law in 2006, will create jobs by allowing California to establish a "green economy" featuring solar energy, hydrogen power, bio-energy and a renewable electricity standard that will provide "the seed money for the world's energy revolution."

The only job losses or costs, he said, would be in polluting industries like Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., both of which have refineries in California that climate experts say are sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

AB32 calls for the state to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Among other things, it requires the California Air Resources Board to establish and enforce limits on carbon emissions - regulations that will begin to go into effect in 2012. Seven Western states and four Canadian provinces have joined California in writing regulations in anticipation of a regional effort to curb emissions.

One contentious issue is a so-called "cap and trade" system, which would establish a market in which businesses that pollute would buy credits from companies that cut their emissions. Congress chose not to pursue laws against greenhouse gas emissions in part because of that controversial issue. Some states in the regional pact have since wavered, including Arizona, which has said it would not support cap-and-trade.

The two oil companies behind the effort to suspend AB32 are among those who would be obliged under cap-and-trade to clean up operations or pay significant new fees.

Schwarzenegger praised President Obama for his support of climate change legislation but was highly critical of Congress for dropping the bill, a situation he said was due to blatant partisanship.

"Right now in Washington nothing gets done," he said. "It doesn't mean that we should give up. California is the leader."