San Francisco's Green Energy Claims Questioned - The Bay Citizen

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California Enters Carbon Trading Market

California Air Board OKs Cap-and-Trade Regulations
Wyatt Buchanan, SF Chronicle, December 16, 2010

The California Air Resources Board on Thursday approved the creation of the nation's first broad-based program to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and to begin charging large emitters for the excess carbon dioxide they discharge to the atmosphere.

Under the new rules, which take effect in 2012, the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions estimated for California will be capped at the currently-forecasted emissions levels for 2012. Over the next three years, the cap will shrink by 2 percent per year. From 2015 to 2020, the cap will drop by 3 percent per year.

The cap first applies to the some of California's biggest emitters, including utilities and large industrial plants. In 2015, it will expand to fuel distributors. In total, it will apply to 360 businesses at 600 locations across the state.

Read the complete article here.

Proposition 23

Proposition 23, which would suspend AB32, is on the November 2, 2010 ballot in California as an initiated state statute.

AB32 is known as the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The act, passed by the California State Legislature and signed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is California's landmark clean air legislation. AB32 requires that greenhouse gas emission levels in the state be cut to 1990 levels by 2020. The process of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the state is slated under AB32 to begin in 2012.

Proposition 23, if enacted by voters, will freeze the provisions of AB32 until California's unemployment rate drops to 5.5% or below for four consecutive quarters. California's unemployment rate, which currently hovers around 12%, has been at 5.5% or below for four consecutive quarters just three times since 1980.

Read a summary of the ballot measure, a list of its major supporters and those who oppose it, and listings of donors and donation amounts for and against at ballotpedia.org.

ARB’s Updated AB32 Scoping Plan Economic Analysis

A revised version of the EAAC Economic Impacts Subcommittee Report on ARB’s Updated AB32 Scoping Plan Economic Analysis is now available.

A public meeting to update the Board on AB32 Economic Analyses will be held on April 21, 2010 as a continuation of the March Board Meeting Agenda Item 10-3-6.

Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Time: 1:00-5:30 pm
Location:
Sierra Hearing Room, 2nd Floor, CalEPA Building
1001 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

ARB staff, experts and stakeholders will discuss several economic analyses relating to AB32. This Board agenda item will include an overview of recent economic studies of the implementation of the AB32 Scoping Plan and an opportunity for public comment. The agenda for the Board meeting can be found here.

Click here for further information on the EAAC.
Click here for additional information on ARB’s Updated AB32 Scoping Plan Economic Analysis.

Report on AB32's Health and Economic Benefits

Minding The Climate Gap: What's at Stake if California's Climate Law isn't Done Right and Right Away
Manuel Pastor, Rachel Morello-Frosch, James Sadd, and Justin Scoggins, April 2010

Minding the Climate Gap: What's at Stake if California's Climate Law isn't Done Right and Right Away details how incentivizing the reduction of greenhouse gases—which cause climate change—from facilities operating in the most polluted neighborhoods could generate major public health benefits. The study also details how revenues generated from charging polluters could be used to improve air quality and create jobs in the neighborhoods that suffer from the dirtiest air.

The report is published by PERE, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity.

California's Mandatory Reported GHG Emissions for 2008

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is making available to the public a summary of facility greenhouse gas emissions data reported pursuant to the California mandatory GHG emissions reporting program required by the 2006 California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32).

Under the program, California's largest industrial GHG emitters were required to report their emissions for the first time in 2009.

The 2008 GHG emissions data represent the reported emissions from electricity retail providers and marketers and six industrial sectors: cement plants; oil refineries, hydrogen plants, and stationary combustion sources (emitting 25,000 metric tons CO2 or greater per year); and electricity-generating facilities and cogeneration facilities (≥1 megawatt generating capacity and emitting 2,500 metric tons CO2 or greater per year).

The emissions reported by facilities through the Mandatory Reporting Program represent approximately 40 percent of California's statewide greenhouse gas emissions.

CEQA Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Senate Bill 97 mandates the development of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines "for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions or the effects of greenhouse gas emissions."

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the California Resources Agency, Cal EPA, and the California Air Resources Board have issued a technical advisory containing informal guidance for addressing climate change in CEQA documents.

How does this affect you and your clients?

Many development, redevelopment, and remediation projects are subject to CEQA.
- a CEQA project is one that requires discretionary approval by a government agency

Affected agencies must now address greenhouse gases (GHGs) in addition to other environmental issues and impacts.
-Identify all the GHG emission sources
-Calculate/estimate GHG emissions
-Identify mitigation measures and alternative methods/approaches
-Identify preferred mitigation strategies

OPR is required to prepare, develop, and transmit the guidelines to the Resources Agency on or before July 1, 2009, and the Resources Agency must certify and adopt the guidelines on or before January 1, 2010.

Visit the OPR website to view the Preliminary Draft CEQA Guideline Amendments and submitted written comments.