Renewable + Law : Renewable Energy Lawyer & Attorneys : Stoel Rives Law Firm : Climate Change, Emissions, Carbon Markets, Wind, Solar, Biofuels : Western United States

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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the appendices to its draft Climate Change Scoping Plan. With the release of the appendcies the full draft scoping plan is available for comment. The Scoping Plan is a required step in CARB's implementation of AB-32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.  Under AB-32, CARB must reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The Scoping Plan must be adopted this year and the specific measures to reduce GHG emissions must be implemented as regulations by 2012. Comments are "requested" by CARB by August 11 in order to allow CARB to fully respond to them and present a final Scoping Plan to the CARB Board  at its November Meeting.

The draft scoping plan calls for 14 tons of carbon dioxide emission reductions for each man, woman and child in California. To get there, it calls for improvements in energy efficiency in buildings and appliances, expanding the Renewable Portfolio Standard to 33%, implementing a cap and trade program connect to the Western Climate Initiative and many other specific measures.

Once the Scoping Plan is adopted CARB, and other agencies such as the California Energy Commission  and California Public Utilities Commission will have to adopt regulations that would go into effect by 2012. Those regulations will be the true teeth of AB-32.

Of the proposed measures, the 33% RPS strikes me as being a very lofty goal that could impose significant changes in the electrical generating industry of not only California, but all the surrounding states that send power into California. But I'll comment further on that in a separate blog entry.