SAN FRANCISCO: California has enacted a landmark legislation that requires significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the pioneering law, AB32, Wednesday, requiring the state to reduce emissions 25 per cent below what they are forecast to be, or return to 1990 levels by 2020.
Signing a bill, passed by the Democrat-led legislature in August, into law, the governor said, it marks the beginning of a bold new era of environmental protection in California that will change the course of history.
One of the key aspects of the law is the provision for power plants, refineries and other sources to buy and sell emission credits.
The law poses a direct challenge to president Bush, who has been opposing mandatory caps on emissions as a means to fight climate change, especially when it comes from a state that often shows the way in environmental issues.
Bush had pulled the U.S. out of the 160-nation Kyoto Protocol in 2001, contending forced reductions in greenhouse gases would damage the country's economy and that the protocol had unfairly excluded developing nations.
Schwarzenegger said countries like India and China, Brazil and Mexico will join the U.S. when "they see all the great work that we are doing.
"Also our federal government will follow us -- trust me."
The California Air Resources Board will be mandated to report and track compliance of this legislation.
Several international leaders, including British prime minister Tony Blair, joined Schwarzenegger through video conferencing at the signing ceremony. Also present were New York governor George Pataki. Earlier New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had pledged with Schwarzenegger to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, saying they could not wait for the administration to take action on climate change.
The governor is expected to sign another bill that will prohibit California utilities from signing long-term contracts to buy electricity from out-of-state, coal-fired power plants. The law will require new out-of-state coal-fired power plants to meet California's stringent emissions rules for new natural gas-fired power plants.
