California Governor Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills Thursday that will make sweeping cuts in the state's greenhouse gas emissions and allow state officials better ability to monitor those cuts. The legislation will make California one of the world's biggest experiments on cutting emission. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
License Photo
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills to make major cuts in the state's greenhouse-gas emission, while allowing elected officials greater ability to oversee its progress.
Already on pace with targets for 2020, the governor signed off on a package of measures that require California to cut emissions by at least 40 percent from the 1990 benchmark by 2030.
"What we are doing is farsighted and far-reaching," Gov. Brown said at the bill's signing in a park in Los Angeles. "I hope it sends a message across the country."
The legislation is likely to continue building Brown's reputation as one of the country's staunchest actors on climate-change legislation.
Brown's administration said the state is on pace to meet 2020 goals set by legislation enacted in 2006. The new requirement would "make it possible" for the state to cut emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
California's governor said the state now leads in the effort as it represents about 1 percent of the total world greenhouse gas emissions.
A faulty well in California caused methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to leak into the atmosphere from late October to February. A report released from the World Bank finds air pollution, caused in part by greenhouse gases like methane, are one of the leading risk factors for premature deaths globally, a risk that winds up costing the global economy more than $200 billion.
"By supporting healthier cities and investments in cleaner sources of energy, we can reduce dangerous emissions, slow climate change, and most importantly save lives," Laura Tuck, a vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank, said in a statement.
According to the World Bank, diseases associated with air pollution are more deadly on a global scale than malaria.
In October, the California governor signed a measure to advance the renewable energy mandate for electricity and vowed to cut petroleum use in cars and trucks in the state by as much as 50 percent over the next 15 years.
The California Chamber of Commerce said the new laws are short-sighted. President and CEO Allan Zaremberg said in a statement that the measures "impose very severe caps on the emission of greenhouse gases in California, without requiring the regulatory agencies to give any consideration to the impacts on our economy."
