Word: gas
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...Although it is not required under the legislation, the state will be under pressure from business to set up a trading scheme, similar to the greenhouse gas market in Western Europe, that allows companies to buy and sell carbon dioxide permits. Thus, industries that cost more to clean up can buy the permits from companies that can cut emissions more cheaply, and reduce their costs. "A cap-and-trade program, which has been used for controlling acid rain in the U.S., will give industry flexibility," says Jason Mark of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science-based non-profit...
...renewable energy sources, could boost the state's economy by more than $60 billion, creating as many as 89,000 jobs, by 2020. Even the electricity industry, one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases, is not entirely against the law; the state's largest investor-owned utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, declared that it "strikes the right balance between improving the environment and protecting the economy...
...other hand, the state's Chamber of Commerce warned that the law would drive up the cost of electricity, encouraging factories to move outside the state. And the most vociferous opponents, oil and natural gas refineries, say there is no mechanism that allows them to "scrub" CO2 emissions. "We don't have any idea what costs will be involved because we don't know what the technology will be," says Tupper Hull of the Western States Petroleum Association. The emissions caps would require a 17 percent reduction in the state's refining capacity, he says, "a catastrophic loss of fuel...
...Ultimately, with the Bush Administration opposing tough greenhouse gas controls, California's pioneering efforts will be successful only if other states follow its lead. Already, there are moves in that direction, with seven mid-Atlantic and New England states having signed a pact to cut power plant emissions by ten percent by 2019. California can be "a world leader in the effort to reduce carbon emissions," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted as the legislature rushed to pass the bill this week. "The success of our system will be an example for other states and nations to follow as the fight against...
...Still, few doubt that the task is daunting. No one is even certain how much greenhouse gas every industrial plant emits, since the federal government has hitherto fought off lawsuits to force the regulation of carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. That issue will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court next December. But regardless of the outcome, California's new law, which was adopted by the legislature Thursday and is expected to be signed by Schwarzenegger next week, would require that its industries measure exactly how much they emit by 2008. Then...