California toughens North America’s toughest greenhouse gas law

The law sets a new goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

“Our climate change policies today represent a turning of the page as it relates to focusing on people”, said Democratic Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, who wrote AB 197.

In a statement, California Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Allan Zaremberg said, “Taken together, SB32 and AB197, impose severe caps on the emission of greenhouse gases in California, without requiring the regulatory agencies to give any consideration to the impacts on our economy, disruptions in everyone’s daily lives or the fact that California’s population will grow nearly 50 percent between 1990 and 2030”.

Brown chose an urban natural park on the edge of downtown Los Angeles as his setting to sign the legislation into law on Thursday.

California Gov. Jerry Brown is set to extend the nation’s most ambitious climate change law by another 10 years, charting a new goal to reduce carbon pollution.

Supporters overcame strong opposition from oil companies and other industry interests to pass the bill a year after business-friendly Democrats in the Assembly derailed an even more ambitious proposal to limit the use of oil in the state.

Republicans opposed the bill, saying it would hurt businesses and ratepayers and give too much powers to state regulators.

But his signing leaves in jeopardy the state’s best-known emissions reduction measure.

The law does little to change the state’s cap-and-trade emissions trading system. The last two permit sales also have fizzled.

Cap and trade has raised billions of dollars in recent years, but revenue from the program has slowed to a trickle, and it’s facing legal uncertainty from a years-long legal battle over whether the program amounts to an unconstitutional tax.

“Here we are, 10 years later, emissions have gone down and the economy has gone up”, said Sen. They say trying to cut electricity-sector emissions will raise energy prices and hurt low-income and minority communities especially hard.

California’s governor said the state now leads in the effort as it represents about 1 percent of the total world greenhouse gas emissions.

“With SB 32, we continue California’s leadership on climate change, we keep making sure our air gets cleaner and we ensure the economic and environmental benefits of our efforts to reach all California communities”, he said.