Update: Transportation Daily News June 26

Emissions:

 

Calif. air regulators start tackling climate law -- Californians will have to drive cleaner cars, use less electricity and live closer to work to achieve the reductions in greenhouse gases mandated under the state's landmark global warming law. Those are among the measures called for in a draft proposal released Thursday by state air regulators who are charged with setting climate rules to implement the law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger two years ago. The proposals contained in the 75-page draft plan reveal for the first time the methods regulators are considering as they decide how the state will meet the law's requirements. It is the most comprehensive effort to cut greenhouse gases in the United States. SF Chronicle 6/26/08

 

California Outlines Broadest U.S. Global Warming Plan -- All parts of the $1.6 trillion economy, the largest of the U.S. states, would be affected. Utilities, refiners, carmakers, farmers, manufacturers and forest managers would be called on to cut pollution under the draft plan released today by CARB. California regulators call for boosting to 33 percent the amount of renewable energy that must be generated by utilities, up from the current 20 percent target.  The plan also outlines a cap-and-trade emissions program like those used in Europe that could generate an estimated $3.6 billion market, tougher energy-efficiency standards for appliances and buildings, incentives to grow trees that act as sponges for carbon and encouragement for local governments to develop cities in ways that provide shorter commutes.  Bloomberg 6/26/08

 

California air board announces plan for carbon-credit trading -- But the draft road map for implementing the state's landmark 2006 global warming law faces daunting obstacles, among them resistance from the Bush administration, legislative snarls and some industry opposition. The federal government has blocked California's 2002 law to cut carbon dioxide fumes from automobile tailpipes, opting for a less strict mileage standard. LA Times 6/26/08