Hmm, interesting...3 blue states and 2 red ones, and the biggest blue one has a red governor. Seems like this is becoming a more non-partisan issue, and a more common sense issue?
Five western states to bypass Bush on climate
Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:28pm ET
By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five Western U.S. states have formed the latest regional pact that bypasses the Bush administration to cut emissions linked to global warming through market mechanisms, according to Oregon's governor.
Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona have agreed to develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse emissions in six months, according a statement from Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
During the next 18 months, the governors will devise a market-based program, such as a load-based cap and trade program to reach the target. The five states also have agreed to participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse gas emissions in their region.
The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative comes on the heels of an agreement in the East called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
"With the Western states you've got a huge part of the U.S. economy that are beginning to regulate greenhouse gases," said Jeremiah Baumann, an advocate with the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently passed the country's toughest greenhouse emissions laws which aim to reduce the state's economy-wide output of the gases by 25 percent by 2020.
Monday's agreement "sets the stage for a regional cap and trade program, which will provide a powerful framework for developing a national cap and trade program," Schwarzenegger said in a statement on Monday. "This agreement shows the power of states to lead our nation addressing climate change."
The other states in the Western pact have also passed greenhouse gas reduction initiatives of their own. The regional pact would allow the states to use market mechanisms more efficiently to reduce output of the gases, said Baumann.
The United States initiated cap and trade programs on pollutants such as acid rain components in the early 1990s.
In such markets for greenhouse gases, companies can offset their emissions by investing in clean projects like solar and wind power, or earn credits that they can sell for cutting their emissions at their factories.
In 2005, the European Union formed a cap and trade program to meet its countries' obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
Unlike developed countries that ratified Kyoto, the United States does not regulate carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. President George W. Bush withdrew from the international pact early in his first term, saying it would hurt the economy and unfairly leave rapidly developing countries without emissions limits in its first phase.
Greenhouse pacts on both coasts could send a message to smokestack and transportation businesses and encourage them to lobby for a national greenhouse plan, rather than face patchwork local regulations, Baumann said.
Like California's recent laws, the Western pact also seeks to regulate imports of electricity from dirty coal-burning power plants from surrounding states outside of the agreement.
The seven states in the Eastern regional pact, which include New York and Massachusetts, aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions at power plants by 10 percent by 2019.
Five western states to bypass Bush on climate
Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:28pm ET
By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five Western U.S. states have formed the latest regional pact that bypasses the Bush administration to cut emissions linked to global warming through market mechanisms, according to Oregon's governor.
Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona have agreed to develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse emissions in six months, according a statement from Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
During the next 18 months, the governors will devise a market-based program, such as a load-based cap and trade program to reach the target. The five states also have agreed to participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse gas emissions in their region.
The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative comes on the heels of an agreement in the East called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
"With the Western states you've got a huge part of the U.S. economy that are beginning to regulate greenhouse gases," said Jeremiah Baumann, an advocate with the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently passed the country's toughest greenhouse emissions laws which aim to reduce the state's economy-wide output of the gases by 25 percent by 2020.
Monday's agreement "sets the stage for a regional cap and trade program, which will provide a powerful framework for developing a national cap and trade program," Schwarzenegger said in a statement on Monday. "This agreement shows the power of states to lead our nation addressing climate change."
The other states in the Western pact have also passed greenhouse gas reduction initiatives of their own. The regional pact would allow the states to use market mechanisms more efficiently to reduce output of the gases, said Baumann.
The United States initiated cap and trade programs on pollutants such as acid rain components in the early 1990s.
In such markets for greenhouse gases, companies can offset their emissions by investing in clean projects like solar and wind power, or earn credits that they can sell for cutting their emissions at their factories.
In 2005, the European Union formed a cap and trade program to meet its countries' obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
Unlike developed countries that ratified Kyoto, the United States does not regulate carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. President George W. Bush withdrew from the international pact early in his first term, saying it would hurt the economy and unfairly leave rapidly developing countries without emissions limits in its first phase.
Greenhouse pacts on both coasts could send a message to smokestack and transportation businesses and encourage them to lobby for a national greenhouse plan, rather than face patchwork local regulations, Baumann said.
Like California's recent laws, the Western pact also seeks to regulate imports of electricity from dirty coal-burning power plants from surrounding states outside of the agreement.
The seven states in the Eastern regional pact, which include New York and Massachusetts, aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions at power plants by 10 percent by 2019.
