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View Full Version : California strategies to meet climate goals



stephanie
12-10-2008, 10:56 PM
boy oh boy..

By The Associated Press

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

(12-10) 14:57 PST , CA (AP) --

California air regulators this week are poised to adopt a global warming plan outlining how the state will cut its greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years. The Air Resources Board says emissions must be cut by nearly a third to meet the targets mandated in a 2006 law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

If the plan is adopted, it will provide a broad outline for specific rules that state air regulators will consider in the coming years. The first requirements will take effect in 2012.

Here are some of the strategies for how California plans to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, or roughly a third of current levels:

CARBON TRADING:

_ Impose an emissions limit or cap on utilities, oil and natural gas refiners, transportation fuels, and large industrial sources that are responsible for most of the state's greenhouse gas emissions.

_ Allow those large polluters to gradually lower emissions by participating in a cap-and-trade market intended to achieve emission reductions at the lowest cost possible.

_ Link a California trading market to a western regional market now being developed by seven western states and four Canadian provinces.

TRANSPORTATION:

_ Implement a 2002 California law requiring automobile manufacturers to make less polluting vehicles. The Bush administration has blocked California's regulation from taking effect, but state air regulators expect President-elect Obama's administration will back it.

_ Require fuel providers to reformulate transportation fuels so they are a combined 10 percent less carbon-intensive by 2020.

_ Give local governments incentives to curb urban sprawl in an effort to reduce how far people drive from home to work or school.

_ Support ongoing state efforts to build a high-speed rail system in California.

_ Require cargo and cruise ships to turn off their engines while docked at port and use less polluting shoreline power systems.

_ Possibly require more efficient engines in big rig trucks that carry cargo around the state.

read it all here..
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/10/state/n145753S92.DTL