Posted on 07/24/2008 9:20:35 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
California, six other Western states and four Canadian provinces launched plans on Wednesday for one of the world's largest carbon-trading systems, a sweeping effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
The North American program, like a similar market-based system in Europe, focuses on heavy polluters such as electric utilities, oil refineries and large industrial and commercial facilities.
Environmental groups immediately questioned whether the plan will be tough enough on polluters, while industry groups said the program lacks details.
California officials said the proposal will be an integral part of the Golden State's ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020, as required by the landmark legislation AB32 that the Legislature approved and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed in 2006.
"We very much believe this supports California's own plan to grow the economy and protect the environment," said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
The draft plan is a key component of the Western Climate Initiative, a partnership created in February 2007 among the governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington to curb global warming.
The group - which has added Utah and Montana, along with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario - has set a regional goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent of 2005 levels by 2020.
Under the plan, industries would be required to begin reporting emission levels beginning in 2011 to allow participating governments to agree on the maximum level of emissions for the region when the program begins in 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I need to print some carbon credits and get in on this! hehe
Idiots!
Last business out, turn out the lights. Oh, but the Californians will still expect energy to be effortlessly made somewhere else and magically transferred at no cost by pixie dust to their homes and cars.
“Environmental groups immediately questioned whether the plan will be tough enough on polluters....”
Yes, by all means keep punishing productive businesses California bureaucrat MFers.
Atlas Shrugged......it can’t be too far away.
No wonder Toyota is moving to Mississippi!
Ironically, VW went to Chattanooga because of how green they are, or so I heard. I was surprised to hear that but much of its heavy industry is closed now. I guess Chattanooga has battery powered buses or something and that sealed the deal.
As if California didn’t have enough reasons for business to flee from the state.
will the last business to leave california please turn off the lights. wait, there won’t be any lights left to turn off.
No kidding. Californian is so broke right now that they are paying all the gubbermit-affirmative action "workers" $6.55 minimum wage till they get another deficit budget passed. And they are going off into lala land with a cap and trade tax?
It’s all just another way to TAX us. When does the revolution start?
Somebody’s going to make millions from this scam. Future scandal in the making.
Cap and Trade, as we know it, is scary, very scary.OTOH, I have been studying it lately. I find that it can be a good thing if not forced, and not controlled by the U.N., which it currently is.
I see ways to make money for myself, and screw the libs in the process.
P.S. I’m in the Transportation industry. {winky}
Know this and know it for a certainty: Carbon dioxide is plant food. Without it, plants wither and die. It is our OBLIGATION to increase carbon dioxide to the degree we are able, to aid our plant life on this planet to grow and extend to its maximum limit.
There is no climate “cure”. We rely on carbon-based fuel, and the excess carbon dioxide merely goes into accelerated and extended plant growth. So long as we encourage plant growth at every juncture, by cultivation and land management, the content of carbon dioxide shall never rise above about 0.05% concentration in the atmosphere.
Plants require carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis, and greenhouses may enrich their atmospheres with additional CO2 to boost plant growth, since its low present-day atmosphere concentration is just above the “suffocation” level for green plants. A photosynthesis-related drop in carbon dioxide concentration in a greenhouse compartment can kill green plants.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I’m with you there. With the US CONgress bailing out everything that breathes, we’ll be bailing out Kalifornication long before 2011.
Was this ever about the ‘environment’? I think it was all to do w/ power and money...for a select few.
I want to put a bullet in anybody I hear calling this a ‘market based’ system. THERE IS NO MARKET FOR CARBON!!!! It’s freaking EVERYWHERE in the freaking UNIVERSE!!!!!
In order to have a ‘market’ you need to have a ‘commodity’ which has a somewhat limited value (otherwise, nobody would buy it since they could get it on their own. Think: Air)
Communism ‘created a market’ for toilet paper. People had to wait in line for days to get any. Can’t wait for a ‘market based system’ for CO2 so I can start paying people so that I can exhale after each breathe. Or, maybe, I can get people to pay me NOT to exhale! Better yet, I’ll pay ALGORE not to exhale anymore. For the children, of course.
The primary evidence, the essential necessary evidence, that the greenhouse effect, and by extension CO2, is causing global warming doesn't exist. If the planet is warming this is proof positive that it isn't because of the greenhouse effect.
No Smoking Hot Spot (The Australian)
This is a short and easily understandable article showing the plain truth. The hinge pin that links global temperature to the greenhouse effect is missing. It is easily measurable and hundreds of probes have done so.
Written by the man who "DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office."
Because Michael Milken's cronies have spent the last decade or two desiging this scam as a method for making money off trading hot air... errr... I mean greenhouse gas credits... errr... carbon credits.
The communists.... errr... environmentalists... support it because it achieves their objectives of restricting U.S. productivity and accelerating wealth redistribution.
The snakeoilsalesmen... errr.... entrepreneurs.... support it because they found they can create businesses off otherwise non-viable technologies and have the government guarantee their profitability.
The U.N. and internationalists support it because it advances the need for World Government, international courts, and international taxation... world power.
etc. etc. etc.
There is something for everyone--unless you value freedom.
And that’s all it is. ; )

California joins major North American effort to curb greenhouse gases (other thread)
Global Warming on Free Republic
Great post (#16) and I agree with it whole-heartedly (except for one point). The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the better crop yields we will see, enabling us to feed more people.
My disagreement was this statement:
There is no climate cure.
That accepts the leftist premise that there is a climate “disease.” I don’t accept that. Earth’s climate is not a constant; it has fluctuated widely over the past 4.5 billion years. Why, at the place where I sit and type this, a mere 75,000 years ago the land was covered with a sheet of ice one mile thick. Obviously, the earth is a warmer place today. And mankind had NOTHING to do with that WHATSOEVER.
Who is to say that today’s climate is the “perfect” climate? And I am far too humble to accept the arrogant premise that we can somehow “control” earth’s climate, any more than we can stop continental drift.
They can just pay to destroy whatever they want.
Thankfully, Nevada isn’t participating in this hoohockey.
Y’all can come here! :)
Nevada is still in the running.
Also still in the running, above 3000 feet in arizona, the south end of hawaii the big island, and cuba, hear they have a helluva healthcare system and will be getting their internet bandwidth from venezuela real soon. ;-)
Four hour drive to freedom!! C’mon already. :P
I still think Nevada should tax California every time the air quality dips from their fires. :D
Do they have Thermal Police there in Nevada yet? they’re gonna be here this winter.. rat bastards!
Nope. You can bring your thermostat with you though!!
But we have Harry Reid, who thinks coal energy makes us sick, so our utility bills are keeping pace with PG&E, but it is still less expensive to heat a 2500 sq ft house in Nevada than to heat a 850 sq ft apartment in the Bay Area.
If I can’t burn wood, I ain’t coming. It’s in my genes.
Uggh Reid, the ultimate in hypocrisy.. on a par with Pelosi
As far as I know, there are no laws prohibiting burning wood in a fireplace (indoor or out) or stove here.
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