Western States Go Green

According to an article in SFGate, Five western states--Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon -- announced an agreement to create a regional effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement is not as sweeping or strong as new regulations in California, however, leading one environmental advocate, V. John White of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, to say the announcement "may be more sizzle than steak."

Unveiled at a meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, D.C., the agreement calls for creating a regional goal to reduce emissions and for developing a Western market that could allow companies to buy and sell carbon emission credits. Similar markets operating in the European Union and getting started in the Northeast United States allow companies that dramatically lower their emissions to sell credits to other companies.

"This is a huge jump forward from just California going it alone," said Dan Skopec, undersecretary of Schwarzenegger's Environmental Protection Agency.
But it's not clear whether businesses in other states will buy or sell emissions credits if they are not required to lower emissions, and none of the other states has an anti-global warming law similar to California's. The green politics of California -- where polls show widespread support for tackling global warming -- may not translate as easily to other states.
All four governors have signed executive orders that include goals for reducing emissions, but none seems poised to quickly enact regulations with teeth. A spokesman for Kulongoski said Monday that a law requiring reductions in Oregon was likely a few years from enactment.
The states have all made efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in some ways. Washington voters passed an initiative last fall to increase renewable energy, for example, and New Mexico is proposing to create tax credits to help develop alternative fuels.

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