North American Emissions Trading Plan Proposed
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On Tuesday, four Canadian provinces and seven American states proposed a program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by vehicles, power plants and manufacturers.
This program, the Western Climate Initiative, would set up a regional carbon emission credit trading system designed to lower costs for affected industries. This plan would cover more polluters than would other regional plans which have been implemented I Canda, Europe and the U.S.
“We’re sending a strong message to our federal governments that states and provinces are moving forward in the absence of federal action, and we’re setting the stage for national programs that are just as aggressive,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The Western Climate Initiative aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region to pre-2005 levels by the year 2020, which would be a 15% reduction in emissions.
The reasoning behind this plan is that overall emissions can be reduced by allowing industries to trade credits for these greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses who cannot do enough on their own to reduce their emissions can buy emission credits from other companies who have been able to reduce their emissions on their own.
This plan has been proposed by the American states of Montana, Oregon, Utah, California, Arizona, Washington and New Mexico and the Canadian provinces British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.
It is now up to the lawmakers in these states and provinces to put these regulations into action. Legislative leaders in Utah worry that these regulations would place businesses in that state at a disadvantage.
“We want to make certain we do not unnecessarily harm Utah businesses,” Senate President Jon Valentine, a Republican, said. “You can end up with such an aggressive approach that it hurts businesses in Utah and makes us not competitive.”
Coal-based utilities, auto manufacturers and other large scale polluters are engaging in lobbying efforts to push their state legislatures to hold off until a uniform federal program is in place. However, the impetus for regional programs such as the Western Climate Initiative comes in large part from the failure by Congress earlier this year to pass legislation addressing global warming.
“Doing nothing is going to cost us a whole lot more in the future,” Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire told reporters in a conference call.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski called the framework “a solid starting point” that would help the state meet its goals.
Environmental groups are in general support of the Western Climate Initiative, but worry that it may allow states to loosen their oversight of industrial pollution by only imposing the minimum standards, which has led to campaigns being waged on the state level to work towards strengthening the rules.
“It basically would amount to a giant handout to polluters unless the states take further action,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, director of the clean energy program at Environment California.
Regulatory authorities in California have said that this plan presents the most cost-effective way to fight global warming, encourage the development of green technologies, reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy and create cleaner energy sources.
The plan also provides for companies to invest their resources in offset projects like planting trees to offset as much as 49% of their emissions.
The Western Climate Initiative has a much more ambitious goal than the carbon market started by 10 northeastern states this week (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which caps power plant emissions).
The Western Climate Initiative plans for industries to begin emission credit trading in January 2012 by industrial polluters and utility companies, with heating fuel companies and transportation companies getting in on the program by 2015.
Every state in the Initiative would determine how to distribute these emission credits, with 10% or more of the total credits being sold through auction and the rest given away at the program’s inception.
According to the California EPA, the Initiative will cover almost 90% of greenhouse gas emission sources if fully implemented.
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