Los Angeles: California made a bold move to curb global warming by passing on Thursday the first bill in the United States to cap man-made greenhouse gas emissions, an action state leaders hope will be copied across the country.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, frustrated by lack of action from fellow Republican
President George W Bush on reducing heat-trapping gases, teamed up with the state's Democratic majority on the landmark bill.
The bill cleared its last legislative hurdle in the State Assembly in a 46-31 vote, with opposition from Schwarzenegger's own Republican Party.
The Senate voted to pass it 23-14 late on Wednesday. Schwarzenegger plans to sign it next month.
The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 puts California at the forefront of the fight against climate change along with the European Union.
The Act also increases pressure on Washington to impose mandatory caps rather than the voluntary measures favored by Bush.
California aims to reduce its emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a cut of around 25 per cent.
The biggest sources of heat-trapping gases, such as power plants and cement makers, will be required to report their emissions.
Bush pulled the United States out of the 160-nation Kyoto Protocol in 2001 on the grounds that the mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases would hurt the economy and wrongly excluded developing nations.
Assembly Speaker and co-sponsor Fabian Nunez appealed to California's traditional leadership on the environment and asked the legislature to take "an opportunity to be bold."
Although California is a pacesetter on the environment, it is also the world's 12th-largest producer of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide.
It also faces potentially serious concerns over its drinking water, coastline, agriculture and air quality because of the rise in temperatures.
Comments
0 comment