Earth Equity News

California Issues Plan to Slash Greenhouse Gas Emissions. By Margot Roosevelt, LATimes, October 16, 2008. "California forged ahead Wednesday in its bold attempt to turn back the clock of climate change, issuing its final draft of an economywide plan [Climate Change Proposed Scoping Plan: A Framework for Change, PDF, 142 pp] to slash the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. Over the next 12 years, new regulations would shrink the per capita carbon footprint of Californians by an average of four tons per year, cutting the level of electricity residents use with more efficient buildings and appliances, and reducing the amount they drive, by discouraging urban sprawl. The plan would force auto manufacturers to make cleaner cars, require utilitiesto build more solar and wind plants, and compel industries to hike energy efficiency to unprecedented levels. 'Despite a difficult economy, it is important that we move forward,' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, adding that the plan would result in 'tens of thousands more jobs and a boost to California's gross domestic production.' California's climate blueprint would slash the state's emissions about 15% below today's level... California's plan was immediately attacked by a coalition of businesses, led by the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn. and the California Chamber of Commerce, which said the rules would result in 'billions of dollars of increased energy costs'... Mary Nichols, chairman of the Air Resources Board, which designed the plan and will vote on it in December, said overall Californians would save by using less energy... Environmentalists... [also] criticized the design of a plan, which would allow some industries broad flexibility in meeting targets. Under the auspices of a Western trading plan that would include six other states and four Canadian provinces, California would give away as much as 90% of industry pollution permits for these industries, rather than auctioning them... The state's trading program also would allow up to 49% of the emission reductions from some industries to be 'offset' by purchasing credits from pollution-cutting programs out of state. Angela Johnson Meszaros, co-chair of the board's Environmental Justice Committee, said that provision would export jobs and allow California factories to escape stricter clean-up rules. 'This plan does not put the health and welfare of California residents first,' she said."