In 2006, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed through his groundbreaking California Global Warming Solutions Act, the state's budget was a mess, but the private economy was flying along. Businesses were thriving, home prices were still spiraling upward with no end seemingly in sight, and it looked like the good times might never end.

Schwarzenegger thought California should set an example for the rest of the country and lead the way in cutting the carbon emissions widely believed to be contributing to the planet's rising temperatures. There would be a cost, of course, to these anti-pollution measures. There always is. But the long-term cost of waiting would be far greater, advocates said as they cheered the governor's measures.

But a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to reducing to our carbon footprint. Our economic nose dive turned what were supposed to be slightly higher costs of doing business into untenable burdens on many businesses.

The Board of Supervisors in Riverside County, one of the areas hit hardest by the recession, voted last week to ask the governor to suspend his measures at least until the economy improves.

We hope the governor listens.

We're all for California being a global leader, but even if you concede the contention that climate change is being caused by humans ---- and that debate will continue ---- we could eliminate our carbon output entirely yet have a minimal effect on the world's climate. If the world isn't completely behind this effort, what California does isn't going to matter.

And we can't afford to be piling additional costly regulations on businesses that are already groaning under the weight of the declining economy. It could be the final blow for many.

County supervisors aren't asking for the rules to be abolished ---- although some would prefer that ---- but just to delay implementing them until unemployment returns to a more normal 6 percent. It may be many years until the rate, now at 14.3 percent, gets back down to that level, but it's worth the wait.