we have gang infested cities and theyre worried about this shiite?
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Democrats target truckers, utilities with global warming bills
Thursday February 22, 2007
By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO (AP) Targeting truckers, contractors and others, Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond the landmark global warming law that took effect this year.
The package of bills would ban methane releases from garbage dumps, reduce exhaust emissions from trucks, construction equipment and school buses, and force utilities to increase energy from renewable sources.
Other lawmakers, including some Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately criticized the legislative package. They said it would overwhelm state regulators who are still trying to decide how to implement last year's global warming law.
That law imposes the country's first economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions, requiring California to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases 25 percent by 2020.
But Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said it will take state regulators too long to develop the regulations needed to achieve the mandate.
Schwarzenegger wants to let companies participate in an emissions market where they could sell, buy or trade credits. Promoting such voluntary incentives, while praiseworthy, is too slow, Perata said.
``There are things we can do right now,'' he said. ``These bills take direct action ... that will have immediate and long-term benefits.''
One of the bills he announced Thursday would require that half of passenger vehicl state regulators' efforts to implement the new law.
``We're trying to do it cooperatively,'' he said. ``We see regulators and we see private industries as partners in this.''
Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, said the state's already stiff requirements bring ``a steep cost to California's manufacturing industry, electricity customers and anyone who owns a car.''
He said he supports Schwarzenegger's incentive approach over new mandates.
The alternative fuels requirement won tentative support from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which has fought other California emissions controls.
``The auto alliance does support greater use of diverse fuels,'' spokesman Wade Newton said.
There are 60 alternative fuel vehicle models now available, up from 12 models in 2000, and many more are planned, he said.
The diesel industry supports renewable fuels, but questions remain about the quality of bio-diesel and how it affects engine performance, said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, a group that includes diesel equipment manufacturers.
On the Net:
Read the bills at www.sen.ca.gov