The court of appeal in San Francisco has upheld the Climate Change Scoping Plan adopted by the Air Resources Board in December 2008.  In its June 19^th decision in Association of Irritated Residents v. California Air Resources Board, the court rejected claims by environmental groups that the Plan violated the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, commonly known as AB 32.

AB 32 requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.  To that end, AB 32 directs the Air Board, the agency responsible for implementing the law, to establish a statewide GHG emissions limit for 2020 and adopt a “scoping plan” that identifies ways to reduce emissions from stationary and mobile sources in order to meet that limit.

The Scoping Plan.

After more than 250 public workshops and 350 community meetings, as well as input from various specialized committees, the Air Board approved a Scoping Plan outlining the following key strategies for reducing GHG emissions in California:

• Expand and strengthen existing energy efficiency programs and building and appliance standards;
• Achieve a statewide renewables energy mix of 33 percent;
• Develop a California cap-and-trade program that links with similar programs in otherU.S.states and Canadian provinces as part of the Western Climate Initiative in order to create a regional market-based emissions trading system;
• Establish targets for transportation-related GHG emissions in the state and pursue policies and incentives to achieve those targets;
• Adopt and implement emissions-reduction measures under existing California laws and policies, such asCalifornia’s Clean Cars standards and Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
• Create targeted fee programs, such as a public goods charge on water usage that can be used to fund water efficiency programs and improvements and fees to fund the administrative costs of implementing AB 32.

…
Continue Reading California Court of Appeal Upholds Statewide Climate Change Scoping Plan