Free Republic

As expected, the California Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would limit purchases of electricity from coal-fired power plants by the state's electric utilities and large companies. The bill, passed previously by the state Assembly, now moves to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is expected to sign it. A separate measure to limit greenhouse gas emissions among all heavy industry is also expected to be passed Thursday. Together, the two steps would make California by far the most active state in combating global warming. The electricity measure, Senate Bill 1368, would prohibit new long-term contracts for basic...

Sometimes, the Legislature is like the magician who keeps the audience's attention focused on the right hand, while the left hand does the deed. So it is with global warming. As the public's scrutiny remains fixed on a landmark greenhouse-gas-emissions bill authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez that was headed to the governor's desk, another anti-global-warming bill quietly has emerged from the Senate and awaits Assembly action. Environmentalists praise the proposal, but opponents are aghast, saying that it could cripple about a fifth of the state's power supply in one fell swoop. That second bill, which has flown under the...

(snip) And California is about to get a lot tougher. Later this month, the Legislature will vote on two ground-breaking bills. One would set binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions with a goal of reducing them to 1990 levels by 2020 — an ambitious undertaking by any measure. The other is a strikingly original bill that would bar long-term contracts with any out-of-state utility that failed to meet strict standards for pollution. A coal-fired plant in Wyoming, for instance, could sell power into California only if it found ways to dispose of most of its carbon dioxide, instead of merely...

Behind the scenes in the Capitol, the wrangling over the unprecedented two-pronged plan to attack global warming is intense. Two major pieces of legislation have been amended several times--one was completely rewritten in April--and the bills have ricocheted separately from committee to committee. The bills' torturous paths partly stem from parliamentary maneuvers by supporters to keep the proposal alive. Watched closely by the nation and a skeptical California business community, the Legislature's Democratic leadership is crafting landmark legislation to cut greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 14 years from factories, power plants, construction sites, cement companies, and even dry-cleaning shops. It...

SACRAMENTO--Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez introduced legislation Monday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, oil refineries and other industrial sources, a step he said would lead the nation in combating global warming while spurring the state's economy. "(The bill) sends a loud and clear message to ... innovators and entrepreneurs here and abroad to develop and bring clean technologies into the California marketplace," the Los Angeles Democrat said. Nunez announced the legislation on the same day Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration released a report calling for development of economic incentives that could include emission caps to cut greenhouse gases, chiefly...