States to work together on emissions credits
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his executive counterpart in New York have agreed to work together to link California's efforts to curb emission of greenhouse gases with those of a consortium of Eastern states.
The governor is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday directing the Secretary of Environmental Protection to work with the California Air Resources Board to team with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative involving seven northeast and mid-Atlantic states. One goal would be to create a multi-state market to allow the exchange of carbon credits, a way to allow polluters who reduce their emissions to sell their surplus pollution allowances to other polluters who are exceeding regulatory limits.
RGGI is aimed at power plants and is to limit emissions starting in 2009. Schwarzenegger this year signed a first-in-the-nation bill that limits emissions by all producers of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Scientists widely agree that such gases contribute to climate change, and many believe pollution by people is speeding up the rate of global warming.
