{"id":15938,"date":"2011-10-20T17:02:54","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T00:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=15938"},"modified":"2011-10-20T17:02:54","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T00:02:54","slug":"california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"California Adopts Nation’s Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

But it’s just another milestone in a long journey that’s far from finished
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s official (no, really, this time<\/a>). California has cap & trade — or will once the program starts ramping up next year. Today’s approval by the state’s Air Resources Board was described by chair Mary Nichols as like “moving a large army a few feet in one direction.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ready to roll: A license plate in Sacramento bears the legislative shorthand for California's landmark climate policy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The objective that “army” is marching — or shuffling — toward is, of course, the fulfillment of California’s goal to roll back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the end of this decade. With at least a semi-intentional pun, Nichols calls cap & trade the “capstone” of that effort, although the program is expected to produce at most, 20% of the hoped-for reductions in carbon emissions. The rest will come from other measures either lumped under or related to the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act, more widely known as AB 32.<\/p>\n

Those other measures include stricter standards for tailpipe emissions, a “low-carbon fuels standard” (still being worked on), and the ambitious-but-attainable goal to get a third of the state’s electricity from renewable energy sources, also by 2020.<\/p>\n

The next major milestone will come late next year, when the state begins meting out permits or “allowances” to release carbon dioxide into the air. At first, 90% of those permits will be given away but analysts have estimated that within a few years, at least half will be auctioned off at a price estimated by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon analytical service to be about $36 a ton.<\/p>\n

To most of us, that doesn’t mean much by itself, but for a refinery pumping out a few million tons a year<\/a> (link to map), that adds up to some serious revenue for the state. How those “carbon dollars” will be spent is one aspect of the program that has yet to be worked out.<\/p>\n

Speakers representing business and other interests, including a large contingent from ConocoPhillips, which has four refineries in California, mounted an eleventh-hour appeal to the Board, to stretch out the compliance schedule. Lisa Bowman, who works in safety compliance at the company’s Carson and Wilmington refineries, told me she regards the state emissions fees that will be required as the biggest threat to her job in 22 years.<\/p>\n

“We want clean air, there’s no doubt,” Bowman told me after her testimony. “But at the same time the restrictions that this bill is putting on us could run our employer out of business, which puts thousands of people out of work.”<\/p>\n

After a lawsuit by environmental justice groups<\/a> delayed implementation of the cap & trade plan, the Air Board pushed back actual compliance<\/a> with the regulation to 2013.<\/p>\n

Here are some program highlights, taken from a breakdown provided by the Air Board:<\/p>\n

Scope<\/strong>
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Program covers about 350 businesses, representing 600 facilities
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starts in 2013 for electric utilities and large industrial facilities
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starts in 2015 for distributors of transportation, natural gas and other fuels
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Designed to link with similar trading programs in other states and regions<\/p>\n

The Cap<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Set in 2013 at about 2% below the missions level forecast for 2012
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Declines about 2% in 2014
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Declines about 3% annually from 2015 to 2020<\/p>\n

Allowances (Permits to Emit CO2)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Large industrial facilities
\n– Start with free allocation but must buy auctioned allowances later
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Electric utilities
\n– Free distribution, with value of allowances to benefit ratepayers
\n– Allowances to be set at about 90% of average recent emissions<\/p>\n

Next Steps:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 January 1, 2012: Cap-and-trade regulation becomes effective
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 August and November, 2012: first auctions planned
\n\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 January 1, 2013: Compliance obligation for emissions begins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But it’s just another milestone in a long journey that’s far from finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":15946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,74],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-15938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-business","tag-ab-32","tag-cap-and-trade"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But it's just another milestone in a long journey that's far from finished.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-21T00:02:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/10\/AB32plate.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"219\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Craig Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@voxterra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Craig Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/\",\"name\":\"California Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-21T00:02:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-21T00:02:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"California Adopts Nation’s Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323\",\"name\":\"Craig Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/dd8f4f4f978df3faac9db4c510939ea0\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Craig Miller\"},\"description\":\"Craig is a former KQED Science editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues, with a little seismology thrown in just to shake things up. Prior to that, he launched and led the station's award-winning multimedia project, Climate Watch. Craig is also an accomplished writer\/producer of television documentaries, with a focus on natural resource issues.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/voxterra\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/cmiller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"California Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan | Climate Watch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"California Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan | Climate Watch","og_description":"But it's just another milestone in a long journey that's far from finished.","og_url":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/","og_site_name":"Climate Watch","article_published_time":"2011-10-21T00:02:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":219,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/10\/AB32plate.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Craig Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@voxterra","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Craig Miller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/","url":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/","name":"California Adopts Nation's Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan | Climate Watch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-21T00:02:54+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-21T00:02:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/10\/20\/california-adopts-nations-most-sweeping-cap-trade-plan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"California Adopts Nation’s Most Sweeping Cap & Trade Plan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/","name":"Climate Watch","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323","name":"Craig Miller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/dd8f4f4f978df3faac9db4c510939ea0","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Craig Miller"},"description":"Craig is a former KQED Science editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues, with a little seismology thrown in just to shake things up. Prior to that, he launched and led the station's award-winning multimedia project, Climate Watch. Craig is also an accomplished writer\/producer of television documentaries, with a focus on natural resource issues.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/voxterra"],"url":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/cmiller\/"}]}},"template_type":null,"featured_image_type":null,"is_audio_post":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"affiliates","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/affiliates?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/programs?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"collections","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collections?post=15938"},{"taxonomy":"interests","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/interests?post=15938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}