Posted on 07/24/2008 9:20:35 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
California, six other Western states and four Canadian provinces launched plans on Wednesday for one of the world's largest carbon-trading systems, a sweeping effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
The North American program, like a similar market-based system in Europe, focuses on heavy polluters such as electric utilities, oil refineries and large industrial and commercial facilities.
Environmental groups immediately questioned whether the plan will be tough enough on polluters, while industry groups said the program lacks details.
California officials said the proposal will be an integral part of the Golden State's ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020, as required by the landmark legislation AB32 that the Legislature approved and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed in 2006.
"We very much believe this supports California's own plan to grow the economy and protect the environment," said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
The draft plan is a key component of the Western Climate Initiative, a partnership created in February 2007 among the governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington to curb global warming.
The group - which has added Utah and Montana, along with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario - has set a regional goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent of 2005 levels by 2020.
Under the plan, industries would be required to begin reporting emission levels beginning in 2011 to allow participating governments to agree on the maximum level of emissions for the region when the program begins in 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I need to print some carbon credits and get in on this! hehe
Idiots!
Last business out, turn out the lights. Oh, but the Californians will still expect energy to be effortlessly made somewhere else and magically transferred at no cost by pixie dust to their homes and cars.
“Environmental groups immediately questioned whether the plan will be tough enough on polluters....”
Yes, by all means keep punishing productive businesses California bureaucrat MFers.
Atlas Shrugged......it can’t be too far away.
No wonder Toyota is moving to Mississippi!
Ironically, VW went to Chattanooga because of how green they are, or so I heard. I was surprised to hear that but much of its heavy industry is closed now. I guess Chattanooga has battery powered buses or something and that sealed the deal.
As if California didn’t have enough reasons for business to flee from the state.
will the last business to leave california please turn off the lights. wait, there won’t be any lights left to turn off.
No kidding. Californian is so broke right now that they are paying all the gubbermit-affirmative action "workers" $6.55 minimum wage till they get another deficit “budget” passed. And they are going off into lala land with a cap and trade tax?
It’s all just another way to TAX us. When does the revolution start?
Somebody’s going to make millions from this scam. Future scandal in the making.
Cap and Trade, as we know it, is scary, very scary.OTOH, I have been studying it lately. I find that it can be a good thing if not forced, and not controlled by the U.N., which it currently is.
I see ways to make money for myself, and screw the libs in the process.
P.S. I’m in the Transportation industry. {winky}
Know this and know it for a certainty: Carbon dioxide is plant food. Without it, plants wither and die. It is our OBLIGATION to increase carbon dioxide to the degree we are able, to aid our plant life on this planet to grow and extend to its maximum limit.
There is no climate “cure”. We rely on carbon-based fuel, and the excess carbon dioxide merely goes into accelerated and extended plant growth. So long as we encourage plant growth at every juncture, by cultivation and land management, the content of carbon dioxide shall never rise above about 0.05% concentration in the atmosphere.
Plants require carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis, and greenhouses may enrich their atmospheres with additional CO2 to boost plant growth, since its low present-day atmosphere concentration is just above the “suffocation” level for green plants. A photosynthesis-related drop in carbon dioxide concentration in a greenhouse compartment can kill green plants.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I’m with you there. With the US CONgress bailing out everything that breathes, we’ll be bailing out Kalifornication long before 2011.
Was this ever about the ‘environment’? I think it was all to do w/ power and money...for a select few.
I want to put a bullet in anybody I hear calling this a ‘market based’ system. THERE IS NO MARKET FOR CARBON!!!! It’s freaking EVERYWHERE in the freaking UNIVERSE!!!!!
In order to have a ‘market’ you need to have a ‘commodity’ which has a somewhat limited value (otherwise, nobody would buy it since they could get it on their own. Think: Air)
Communism ‘created a market’ for toilet paper. People had to wait in line for days to get any. Can’t wait for a ‘market based system’ for CO2 so I can start paying people so that I can exhale after each breathe. Or, maybe, I can get people to pay me NOT to exhale! Better yet, I’ll pay ALGORE not to exhale anymore. For the children, of course.
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