Earth Equity News

California OKs Fee to Pay for Global Warming Program. By Samantha Young, AP, September 26, 2009. "Despite industry objections and threats of lawsuits, California air regulators on Friday approved the nation's first statewide carbon fee on utilities, oil refineries and other polluting industries. The money raised by the California Air Resources Board, which voted 9-0, is intended to pay for the bureaucratic expenses of carrying out the state's 2006 global warming law, which requires greenhouse gas emissions statewide to be reduced by 25% over the next decade. 'It's never pleasant to be in the position of asking consumers to pay,' chairwoman Mary Nichols said at the board's meeting in the Southern California city of Diamond Bar. 'While we asking for investments here, these are investments being made as our economy begins to come back from the worst recession since the Great Depression.' The fee will be imposed at the end of 2010 and raise $63.1 million annually during its first three years. The amount will level off at $36.2 million in the fifth year. Oil companies, manufacturers and utilities complained regulators had unfairly singled them out, leveling the fee on just 350 businesses in the state. Some business leaders also questioned the timing of the fee, which is being imposed while California endures a 12.2% unemployment rate, the highest on record."