[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

In this week’s Democratic weekly radio address, Assembly Speaker Emeritus Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) points to growing enthusiasm for AB 32, the bill he authored to combat global warming. But as the California Air Resources Board releases the law’s draft implementation plan, the Speaker Emeritus expresses concern over Republican obstructionism.

You may listen in English or Spanish or read the transcript.

This is Fabian Núñez, Assembly Speaker Emeritus and the author of AB 32, California’s landmark law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat the effects of global warming.

This has been a big week for AB 32.

First, a leading environmental entrepreneur and the head of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce reported that AB 32 has been a key factor in bringing major clean technology investment into California. More than 50% than the year before.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Building on Bob's report about the San Francisco Clean Energy Act, the California Air Resources Board has released its draft blueprint designed to fall in line with the mandate of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, by cutting emissions 30% by 2020.  

The 75+ page plan includes a range of policy recommendations.  Chief among them is increasing the state's renewable electricity standard.  The plan also contains provisions for a regional cap-and-trade program that could work in harmony with other more specific policies to reduce pollution economywide.  The plan also says CARB will consider a vehicle "feebate" program that would provide incentives to consumers to buy cleaner cars.

In addition, the proposal includes plans to reduce emissions from heavy-duty trucks with hybrid engine technology and better fuel economy.  Like many of CARB's proposals, the heavy-duty truck provisions would improve public health by also reducing smog-forming pollution.  The plan also advocates for a high-speed train system in California.

Jim Downing at the SacBee has more here.  Analysis on the flip:

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank
California High Speed Rail Blog http://cahsr.blogspot.com/

The California Air Resources Board has released its draft scoping plan for implementation of the AB 32 greenhouse gas reduction law. This is the law that was passed in 2006 that requires California to reduce carbon emissions by 25%, to 1990 levels. It is rightly seen as a landmark national, even global law.

And as CARB recognized, its goals cannot be accomplished without high speed rail.

The cornerstone of the CARB plan to implement AB 32 is to use a cap-and-trade system. I prefer an outright carbon tax, but cap-and-trade is what we're likely to see initially here in California. This is where the overall amount of carbon emissions is capped, and credits are created to allow pollution up to that cap limit. Those credits can be traded - so if, say, a factory wants to pollute, it must purchase more credits, causing those who sell them to reduce their emissions. Over time the number of available credits is steadily reduced to achieve lower emissions.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Magavern
Director
Sierra Club California

California’s Air Resources Board today released its draft plan for bringing the state’s global warming pollution down to the level required by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, AB 32.

This balanced and comprehensive draft plan starts California down the path to a greener economy. But it comes with a challenge: Big oil companies already have begun a campaign to block the clean-energy transition as they count their windfall profits and push for new drilling off our beautiful coast.

They’re in the dark. A strong majority of Californians support the major measures in this plan because they know we can save money on energy while reducing the pollutants that harm human health and warm the planet.

We urge Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to reject the attempt by big polluters and Senate Republicans to roll back California’s landmark global warming law. Instead of looking backward, our government should move forward to meet not only the AB 32 requirement (returning to 1990 emission levels by 2020), but also the governor’s goal of an 80 percent reduction by 2050. We cannot afford to give in to the voices of obstruction and delay.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Clean Air Advocates and Janitors’ Union Urge State to Reduce Toxics and Smog-Forming Emissions from Cleaning Products

By Luis Cabrales
Senior Campaign Associate
Coalition for Clean Air

The products used to clean your home and safeguard your family may be causing harm to your health and the environment. Consumer products, including cleaning products, are expected to be the largest source of smog-forming emissions in the state by 2020surpassing cars! Many of these products contain high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which contribute to California’s poor air quality and are associated with cancer-causing chemicals.

What’s stored below our kitchen sinks can make us sick and pollute the air. California should be the first state to take the leap forward to eliminate toxics and smog-forming chemicals that we use to clean our homes.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Next President Will Have to Decide Issue—And Only Obama is Clear on Waiver
• California Taking Other Action

By David Dayen
d-day

Just to update on the EPA's denial of a waiver to California to regulate its own greenhouse gas emissions - the White House is now refusing thousands of documents on the matter to Henry Waxman's Oversight and Government Reform Committee, citing executive privilege:

“"I don't think we've had a situation like this since Richard Nixon was president," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is conducting the investigation.

“An EPA official, Jason Burnett, has told committee investigators that EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson had favored granting the waiver but denied it after meeting with White House officials. In testimony last month, Johnson refused to say whether he'd discussed the waiver request with Bush.”