Monday, March 28, 2022
Where's the CAP?
Posted By Elaine Weinreb on Mon, Mar 28, 2022 at 12:38 PM
If an irresistible force meets an immovable object, one possible outcome is a stalled Climate Action Plan. Caught between the realities of an ever-warming climate and a culture that is embedded in fossil fuels, city, state and county planners have been trying for years to come up with some acceptable and realistic ways of staving off disaster. It is a daunting task and, perhaps not surprisingly, has taken years of effort with little to show for it.
In 2006, under the leadership of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California passed Assembly Bill 32, a law requiring California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. This goal was met, largely through the implementation of the cap-and-trade program, which basically placed a market value on the right to pollute. Companies by and large found it was cheaper to clean up their technologies than to pay pollution fees to the state.
Ten years later, under the leadership of Gov. Jerry Brown, the state passed Senate Bill 32, which required further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent of their 1990 levels by 2030. This deadline is now less than eight years away.
Speaking of...
Readers also liked…
-
Through Mark Larson's Lens
A local photographer's favorite images of 2022 in Humboldt
- Jan 5, 2023
-
'To Celebrate Our Sovereignty'
Yurok Tribe to host gathering honoring 'ultimate river warrior' on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that changed everything
- Jun 8, 2023
more from the author
-
Port of Entry
Harbor District begins environmental review for project to turn Humboldt Bay into a wind farm manufacturing hub
- Jul 27, 2023
-
McKinleyville, Inc.?
Humboldt County's third-largest population center mulls cityhood
- Jun 22, 2023
-
'The Whole System is Broken'
The Elk River watershed has a plan, though its residents feel little hope
- Feb 16, 2023
- More »
