Environment | February 13, 2009 |
CA's Global Warming Solutions Act: Does It Help or Hinder Business?
When Governor Schwarzenegger signed California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, or AB 32, in 2006, the move was applauded as a bipartisan victory and as bold, visionary, forward-thinking legislation. But some industry groups are complaining that the implementation of the legislation, which calls for a statewide greenhouse gas emissions cap for 2020, based on 1990 emissions, will be too costly, will weaken the State's economy and will actually harm the environment.
Late last year, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which is tasked with developing the regulations and market mechanisms to achieve the reductions, finalized its plan of attack, called the Scoping Plan for AB 32. And in response, the AB 32 Implementation Group, whose stated goal is to "ensure that the greenhouse gas emission reductions required are achieved while maintaining the competitiveness of California businesses and protecting the interests of consumers and workers," said in a statement that "CARB’s economic analysis doesn’t address what the actual costs will be for the State to implement AB 32," and accused the board of not heeding the findings of groups such as the Legislative Analysts’ Office, which calls the funding plans for the bill unsustainable and suggests holding off on implementing budgeting for the Act until the Schwarzenegger can produce a stable, long-term funding plan.
Against the backdrop of an intense recession and the State's $42 billion deficit, it would be irresponsible to not take a closer look at the costs associated with AB 32. But California Assemblyman Dan Logue's bill to suspend AB 32, based on claims that it has already "crippled our ability to compete in the global economy, "isn't the prudent way to address the twin needs of emissions reductions and jobs retention. A less radical reaction is articulated in this analysis by environmental think tank VerdeXchange, the main point of which is that yes, AB 32 is going to cost industry and taxpayers a lot of money, and that'll be a waste if it does not also result in real transformation in how companies do business, whether they are based California or elsewhere.
Logue claims that AB 32 will result in greater environmental degradation because it will only encourage companies to outsource production to places such as China, where environmental regulations are, at best, poor. Good point. But that calls for more international cooperation in addition to regulations at home, not instead of them. In the end, companies that find ways to grow their businesses while limiting their environmental impacts will come out on top.
Case in point: DuPont used to spend $1 billion each year on environmental compliance (basically, cleaning up the messes it made). It spent the same amount on research and development. That was not a sustainable business practice.
In Part II, we'll look at some companies that are making strides toward changing their business models not just to accommodate pending legislation, such as AB 32, but to pioneer better business practices. And we'll at innovations that might help businesses change.
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Comments By Readers
Would love permission to reprint in local media and my own web site, rather than just a link.
Gores film An Inconvenient Truth is full of lies. Not exaggerations. Not errors.
Lies!
Al Gore air brushed out the little ice age and the medieval warming periods from his graphs in AIT. We wouldn't want people knowing that the earth was two degrees celsius warmer than it is now during the medieval warming period. Somehow man survived without the use of central cooling. Gore left off the little ice age because he wouldn't want to demonstrate that the warming trend he talks about began at the end of an ice age.
He also stated that sea lever would rise by 20 feet by the end of the century. Even the UN IPCC (harldy conservative on this issue) estimates only 4 to 36 inches.
Gore also suggested that the Aral Sea has dried up because of global warming. In actuality it has been drained for the irrigation of cotton crops.
Gore claims that for the first time ever, a significant number of polar bears had drowned. First of all, they can swim around fifty miles. Secondly, the researchers at one of America's most respected think tanks the Competitive Enterprise Institute tracked down the study Gore was quoting and found that only four polar bears had drowned during severe storm conditions.
Furthermore, he quotes a quickly debunked paper suggesting there is a 100% consenus among scientists that athropogenic global warming is real. Here are a few scientists who must have missed the memo:
http://www.hootervillegazette.com/GlobalWarming.html
It is worth noting that a UK Court ruled that AIT contained many errors and should not be shown in public schools without a warning about the errors.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/10/09/court-identifies-eleven-inaccuracies-al-gore-s-inconvenient-truth
I find it interesting that Al Gore talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk. He jets around the world in his private plane. He rides around in gas guzzling limousines, and has a compound so wasteful of energy that it needs its own power grid. His houseboat more than likely isn't that energy efficient either.
I suppose conserving energy and fighting global warming is for the little people. Let the peasants drive the small dangerous energy efficient cars, I'll drive what I want.
Al Gore was worth about $2 Million Dollars when leaving office and is worth over $100 Million now. He's laughing all the way to the global warming bank. It's a pity some are too gullible to see it. As one of my favorite SNL characters might have said "global warming has been bery bery good to him."
By the way, the flat earthers were the ones who refused to debate. "The debates over, we have a consensus." Sound familiar? If anyone is a flat earther, it's Al Gore.
Everyone who has seen An Inconvenient Truth should view The Great Global Warming Swindle in order to get a more balanced view of the true state of the science on this issue.
You may view it by visiting:
http://www.hootervillegazette.com/Videos.html
It is the first video listed.
Happy Viewing,
Dash RIPROCK III
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