Posts Tagged global warming

ARB staff moves forward with SB 375 goals

Published: August 9, 2010 | Comments (2)

By Daniel Weintraub

The Air Resources Board took another step today toward its implementation of a state law meant to encourage local governments to adopt planning and transportation policies that cut automobile use and lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The ARB released a staff recommendation that will likely lead to goals for regions around the state to reduce their per capita emissions of the gases believed to contribute to global warming.

The targets — which are the result of legislation known as SB 375 — are supposed to result in more support for transit, denser development, toll roads where the rates vary with the level of congestion, and traffic management policies designed to keep freeways and other major roads flowing smoothly.

The staff recommendation is largely similar to a draft recommendation released earlier this summer, and it builds upon decisions already being made at the local level. It will be considered by the full ARB at its Sept. 23 meeting.

In the state’s four largest metropolitan areas, the recommendations call for greenhouse gas reductions of 7 to 8 percent per capital below 2005 levels by 2010. By 2035, the targets would range from a 13 percent reduction Los Angeles and San Diego to 15 percent in the Bay Area and 16 percent in Sacramento.

The staff report also included policy scenarios for each region that gave a crystal-ball look at what kind of changes might be necessary to achieve the emission goals.

In Sacramento, for example, the scenario assumes that 68 percent of new housing will be compact, compared to 60 percent in current land use plans. Growth is focused in the urban core and existing suburban centers, and a higher proportion of the development is served by transit.

The result: a 14 percent reduction in vehicle trips per capital, a 60 percent increase in the use of transit and a 21 percent jump in the walking and biking.

To see the full staff report, go here.

 

ARB moves to limit greenhouse gas from development, transportation

Published: July 6, 2010 | 1 Comment

By Daniel Weintraub

The California Air Resources Board is taking the first steps to implement a new state law that will eventually require local governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by better coordinating land-use planning, development and transportation.

The board is considering targets for each region that would require the four largest metropolitan areas in the state to reduce their per-capita emissions in 2020 to 5 percent to 10 percent below the levels that existed in 2005.

By 2035, those same areas — Los Angeles and Orange County, San Diego, the Bay Area and Sacramento — would have to reduce emissions related to transportation by as much as 19 percent per capita below 2005 levels.

The targets, which the board expects to finalize in September, will force regional planning boards in those areas to coordinate road construction and transit with development in a way that minimizes vehicle traffic. Generally that will mean more transit and car pool lanes, more infill development on vacant or underused lots in urban areas, and denser suburban development in communities where it will be possible to walk or bike to work, stores and schools.

The targets are the result of SB 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008. SB 375 is the lesser known but still important sibling to AB 32, the state’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law. AB 32 will be challenged in a November ballot measure that calls for its suspension until unemployment is reduced to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.

But even if AB 32 is suspended, SB 375 will live on, and it will soon be affecting how cities and counties plan and approve new development and transportation projects.

The ARB is holding a series of workshops this summer for the public to comment on its draft regional targets.

For a list of the workshop dates, go here.

For the ARB staff report on the draft greenhouse gas reduction targets, go here.

 

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.