Universal Decision Tree Sequential

The California Air Resources Board approved 3,000 pages of regulations in December 2010 which will cap greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s largest sources and establish a carbon trading program. The cap and trade plan will require 600 industrial plants in the state to cap their greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2012, and reduce those levels over the next eight years. CARB established a price for allowances which will trade at $10 a tonne in 2012, the program’s first compliance year, and rise to $18 a tonne in 2016. Plants will be allowed to use offsets to meet up to 8% of their compliance obligation. California has been making bold efforts in improving the environmental footprint of the state. Starting January 1, 2011, CALGreen, a new green building code, will go into effect for all commercial buildings in the state. In addition, the state has already approved rules to increase car fuel efficiency, cut the energy intensity of gasoline, and get a third of the state’s electricity from renewable sources.

California voters on November 2 solidly rejected Proposition 23, a ballot measure that would have suspended the state’s greenhouse gas emission laws until the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent. With more than 90 percent of the precincts reporting, 61 percent of voters opposed Proposition 23. In addition, the election of Democrat Jerry Brown to replace Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor makes a retreat on environmental regulation less likely. Under California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), the state is required to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Last week, after four years of meetings and debate, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued proposed cap-and-trade regulations. In the proposal, CARB acknowledged the state’s current economic situation and agreed to give away virtually all of the necessary permits, rather than sell them at auction, when the program starts in 2012.