Ushering in a historic effort to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, California regulators today will unveil a landmark
plan that calls for a major hike in the state's use of renewable
energy, a new market to trade pollution credits and a move to
force automakers to make cleaner cars. The plan comes two years
after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed one of the most
ambitious pieces of environmental legislation ever, committing
California to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels by 2020. At the time, Schwarzenegger left it to state
regulators to work out the details, and the plan - which
regulators previewed Wednesday and will discuss more fully today
- is the first step. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to about 30 percent below where they would be with no
action by 2020 - a 10 percent reduction from today's emissions.
Many of the proposed measures already are in the pipeline, but
the plan - which becomes final in November - calls for new and
expanded efforts as well. For example, it c