Big Step in Fight for “Cap and Trade”

Yesterday, the California Air Resources Board released the long anticipated draft Scoping Plan for the Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as AB 32. The recommendations outline a plan to reduce emissions from the covered sectors by almost 30 percent from “status quo.” Perhaps most noteworthy about the proposal is the very clear embrace of a cap and trade system. The Bay Area Council began work on AB 32 two years before its eventual passage. With strong input from our Energy Committee, on June 28, 2006 the Council’s Executive Committee voted to adopt a supportive position on AB 32. We were the first major business group to step forward in this manner. Our members met with legislators, sent in notes, faxes and phone calls pushing for an appropriate version of this bill that would enable cap and trade, not heavy-handed regulation, to achieve the reduction goals. The final version of the bill allowed cap and trade, but didn’t require it. There has been heated debate ever since, and CARB’s support of cap and trade is a big step. AB 32 will have profound effects on all Bay Area Council members, and, frankly, all of us as individuals. The time to shape the plan is now, as the final Scoping Plan will be done in October. Our next Energy Committee meeting on July 9th is fully committed to this issue and all members are invited. We will have the following guests: Darren Bouton, Deputy Cabinet Secretary to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Kennedy, an architect of the new program from CARB, and Jean Roggenkamp, from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Please click here for the agenda and meeting details. RSVP to lstraub@bayareacouncil.org.