California air regulators today announced a bold plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions that would alter the way utilities generate electricity, automakers build cars and developers construct buildings, and launch the nation's broadest market in carbon-credit trading.
California's blueprint is the first comprehensive effort to combat global warming by any American state, and comes nearly three weeks after the U.S. Senate threw out a national greenhouse gas bill that would have set similar targets.
Virtually every sector of the state's economy would be affected by the air board's plan, including coal-fired power plants and oil refineries, landfills where rotting garbage emits methane gas and forests, which would be cultivated to reduce fires.
But the California Air Resources Board's draft road map for implementing the state's landmark 2006 global warming law faces daunting obstacles, among them resistance from the Bush administration, legislative snarls and some industry opposition.
The federal government has blocked California's 2002 law to cut carbon dioxide fumes from automobile tailpipes, opting for a less strict mileage standard. The controversial attempt to get utilities to generate one-third of their energy from renewable sources died in the Legislature last year and is pending before the Assembly, along with several green-building bills.
Meanwhile, the Western Climate Initiative, a group of seven states and three Canadian provinces, has yet to agree on the basics of a trading plan, much less cope with political skepticism.
In a media briefing, board Chairwoman Mary Nichols called the 99-page document "an ambitious goal that translates into a 30% cut in carbon emissions over business as usual," adding that it might "motivate other states and the nation."
The price tag for individual industries has yet to be calculated, and some companies fear it could be exorbitant. But Nichols said that overall, the benefits to the state's economy, including healthcare savings from fewer breathing ailments, would slightly outweigh the costs.
Given the projected fallout from global warming, which include increased wildfires, water shortages and illness from heat-induced pollution, "The potential costs of implementing the plan pale beside the cost of doing nothing," the document asserts.
Although most environmental and industry groups will not see copies of the plan until today's board meeting, many have been briefed and offered guarded approval.
