State releases landmark global warming rules (California's future at the precipice of an abyss)

Mercury News ^ | 10/29/10 | Paul Rogers

[NormsRevenge]

Roughly 600 of California's major polluters -- from oil refineries to power plants and factories -- will face mandatory limits on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, starting on Jan. 1, 2012, under new rules released today by state air regulators.

The facilities will be able to trade pollution credits under a new "cap and trade" market, and will be allowed to use projects that offset global warming, such as tree planting, to cover up to 8 percent of their emissions limits.

The new rules are part of AB 32, the landmark law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and now at the center of a bruising ballot fight in next Tuesday's election. The law requires that California's greenhouse gas emissions be cut to 1990 levels by 2020, a drop of about 15 percent from current levels.

"Everything is designed to reward efficiency and clean energy," said Stanley Young, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, which wrote the rules. "This sends a signal that clean energy pays off, and that's where we want to be."

The air board -- a nine-member body appointed by the governor -- is scheduled to vote on the rules Dec. 16. If it approves them, as expected, California will become the first state in the nation with mandatory limits on emissions from a wide variety of industries that most climate scientists say are contributing to global warming through the burning of fossil fuels like natural gas, coal and oil.

Similar rules already are in place for 10 New England and East Coast states, but they only effect emissions from power plants.

Schwarzenegger has made global warming reduction efforts a centerpiece of his term in office.

[Ritemind]

I am a native and I look forward to the hastened demise of California. Stockton will be the new Detroit. Central valley the new dust bowl. BK is the ultimate answer and it is also inevitable. Arnold kicked the can far enough down the road to assure this.

It will be interesting to see everyone scream when they are pulled off the teat. An enormous hardship for the young who retired from state service. Imagine having to work after age 55. Injustice I tell you. Spinsters paying for their own internet, trolling for men and playing farmville on their own time and their own dime.

[L.A.Justice]

Radio host Bill Handel, who is on in the LA market, said that he will not support Prop 23...He said that we have to start to move away from fossil fuels no matter high the cost...

Oh, Bill, you are a rich guy...I am sure you could handle the cost...I don’t know about other people...

Handel is a moderate...I shouldn’t have been surprised...I am just disappointed that there are simply too many “moderates” who think like Handel...

[sergeantdave]

The fascist state of California goosesteps off the cliff.

Does anyone realize that being ruled by an unelected, unaccountable ruling class is, by definition, a dictatorship?

[Thud]

The people of California want this. They fervently believe in the tooth fairy, etc.

[sergeantdave]

I think I get what you’re saying.

I last landed back in CA in 2006. My best bud - we were in the same USMC outfit during Nam - seemed to have melted into a pile of gutless goo.

My friend was one of the most hard-ass, gung-ho, kick-ass Marines that I ever knew. He knew more about weaponry than anyone I ever met.

Then he melted into a pile of liberal sh*t, spouting crap about “we can’t allow everyone the 2nd amendment privileges..”

It was jaw-dropping for me.

I admit I don’t understand this. I want to but probably never will.

Thanks for your input..

[eyeamok]

In a funny way this might be the best thing to happen for California, Since CO2 is now considered a “Dangerous Pollutant” Can’t we now pass a LAW:

Any Public Servant, Public Employee, or Public Person that willfully and knowingly Makes deliberate false statements about any material fact or evidence, shall be guilty of FELONY Discharge of a Dangerous Pollutant. Punishable by a Mandatory Sentence of 20 years to Life in Prison. All persons convicted under this Statute shall upon conviction be immediately transferred to a Prison in Mexico for the duration of their sentence.