S.F. judge OKs cap and trade for emissions law

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Source: SF Chronicle

A San Francisco judge has given the go-ahead to California's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, ruling that state regulators adequately considered alternatives to a market-based cap-and-trade system.

Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith had ruled in March that the Air Resources Board had not looked hard enough at other options, like numerical limits on emissions or a tax on carbon-based fuels. His ruling, on an issue that has divided environmental groups, could have upset the state's plans to implement the nation's first comprehensive climate-change law.

But an appellate court issued a stay in June that allowed the ARB to keep working on cap and trade, which now is scheduled to be enforced in 2013. On Tuesday, Goldsmith said the board has complied with his orders, analyzed alternatives and justified its choice of methods.

ARB spokesman Stanley Young said the board "will continue to implement the full range of climate programs designed to clean our air, reduce greenhouse gases, drive innovation and move California toward a clean-energy future."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/08/BA481M9NPV.DTL