Posts Tagged AB 32

Measure to suspend AB 32 to appear on November ballot

Published: June 22, 2010 | No Comments

A ballot measure to suspend implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark law to control the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, will appear on the November ballot, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced Tuesday.

The measure’s backers submitted enough signatures to qualify the initiative, according to a random sample of those names by the counties.

AB 32 requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The Air Resources Board is developing regulations that will force power plants, cement factories, oil refineries, auto manufacturers and other industries to change the way they operate in order to comply with the law.

The measure would suspend the law until the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters. That’s only happened twice in the past 20 years, and with the unemployment rate currently 12.4 percent, the initiative is almost the equivalent of repealing AB 32.

The financing to collect the signatures to put the measure on the ballot was provided largely by oil companies. And Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who considers the law one of his major accomplishments, wasted no time Tuesday lashing out at the initiative’s sponsors.

“This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California’s fastest growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy and decimate our environmental progress for the benefit of these oil companies’ profit margins,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement released by his office. “I will not allow this to happen on my watch. We will continue moving this state forward with our comprehensive energy policy that creates jobs, reduces our reliance on foreign oil and ensures the California we love will be the California we hand over to the next generation.”

 

Proposal to suspend AB 32 likely headed for ballot

Published: May 3, 2010 | No Comments

A political group with backing from big oil interests will begin submitting signatures today that are expected to qualify a measure for the November ballot to suspend implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark measure to fight global warming by limiting the emission of greenhouse gases.

The ballot measure was carefully written to avoid calling for an all-out repeal of AB 32 while still accomplishing essentially that. It would suspend the measure until California’s unemployment rate declined to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters. That’s not likely to happen for years and has been the case only rarely in the past decade.

AB 32 calls for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. It will require industry to retool their operations, especially big greenhouse gas producers such as oil refineries, utilities and cement plants. Business groups contend it will damage the economy. And while state officials concede that the regulations could save less than 1/2 of 1 percent off the state’s GNP, they claim it will actually create thousands of jobs.

The initiative to suspend the law is being backed by oil giants Valero and Tesoro, among others.

The measure will likely attract national and even international attention because of the focus on California and its global warming law, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has considered one of his greatest accomplishments. Industry is likely prepared to spend millions to push the ballot measure. It’s not clear who on the other side will pony up to defend AB 32. So far a non-profit foundation that supports clean energy has been the major donor to the campaign against the ballot measure. But there are few major financial interests with a big enough stake in the law to pour in the kind of money that would be needed to match the resources of the petroleum industry.

Californians have shown strong support for AB 32 in the past, and that support has crossed party lines. Californians also seem to like the idea that their state has a reputation as an environmental leader. But with the economy struggling, a proposal to suspend AB 32 until joblessness declines will have plenty of appeal. It is going to be a very interesting campaign.

 

AB 32: finances, effect on the poor and minorities

Published: April 14, 2010 | No Comments

Two reports due today will shed light on different parts of the plan to implement AB 32 — California’s law to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The Legislative Analyst will have a report online here by 10 a.m. that looks at the Air Resources Board’s progress in meeting the law’s milestones so far and examines the governor’s plan for financing the law’s implementation and enforcement. The report will also offer legislators some recommendations on oversight to ensure that money raised by a new administrative fee is spent properly.

Researchers from The University of California, Occidental College and USC, meanwhile, will release a study here at 11 a.m. that documents the relationship between greenhouse gases, other pollutants and demographics.

Some of the study’s findings:

–While the composition of neighborhoods more than six miles away from any large GHG-emitting facility is 54 percent non-Hispanic white and 46 percent people of color, neighborhoods that are closer – within various distance bands such as six miles, two and a half miles, or one mile – are about 40 percent non-Hispanic white and 60 percent people of color.

–Children in poverty, along with all people in poverty, are also disproportionately near major GHG-emitting facilities. However, it is not just this income factor driving the apparent racial disparity: people of color are more likely to live near these facilities than their white peers in the same income bracket.

–Within California, people of color are more likely to be near those large GHG-emitting facilities with the highest emissions of other pollutants such as particulate matter and/or clusters of facilities where such pollutants accumulate to high levels. Overall, people of color experience over 70 percent more particulate matter emissions within two and a half miles of the facilities listed as major GHG-emitters as non-Hispanic whites, and the disparity is particularly sharp for African Americans.

 

LAO: AB 32 would cost California jobs

Published: March 8, 2010 | No Comments

Power plants like this one in Morro Bay would be affected by implementation of AB 32, which mandates cuts in carbon emissions.

California’s legislative analyst has opined that the implementation of AB 32, the state law to limit carbon emissions, would cost California jobs, at least in the short term. The conclusion, which came in response to a request from state Sen. Dave Cogdill, contradicts the stand of the Air Resources Board. Cogdill is calling for the law’s suspension. See the LAO letter to Cogdill here.

Power plant photo by Mike Baird.