California Cap and Trade Regulations: A Model for the Nation?

It's rare in these politically turbulent times for a government entity to make a unanimous decision, but that's exactly what happened as California's Air Resourced Board (ARB) adopted the nation's first cap-and-trade program. The program is one the measures being carried out under California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also known as AB 32, which calls for the state to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The law did not require enactment of cap-and-trade, but simply "to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions" to reach the stated reduction goal as stated in AB 32. Requirements go into effect in 2012 and enforcement begins in 2013, starting with large industrial plants and electrical utilities. Moving toward 2020 the carbon cap will drop each year, resulting in what the ARB expects to be the alleviation of 273 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6647284

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