History was made at a contentious California Air Resources Board Meeting when the board unanimously approved the nation's first Cap & Trade program to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The program results from CA's 2006 landmark climate law, AB 32.
On Thursday, Oct. 20, "the air board met in Sacramento for more than eight hours in a packed hearing room. Board members listened to sometimes scathing comments from union workers fearful of losing their jobs and a parade of industry representatives who likewise characterized the regulations as anti-business."
"Cap-and-trade is a new tool that for the first time allows us to reward companies for doing the right thing," remarked Mary Nicholson, the chair of the board."
The program, technically a regulation, is a crucial element of the state's climate plan resulting from Assembly Bill 32: Global Warming Solutions Act.
"The complex market system for the first time puts a price on heat-trapping pollution by allowing California's dirtiest industries to trade carbon credits...A second phase of compliance begins in 2015 and is expected to include 85% of California's emissions sources."
The program was challenged unsuccessfully by the oil industry last Novemeber in a ballot measure known as Proposition 23.
Thanks to The Roundup
FULL STORY: California becomes first state to adopt cap-and-trade program
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