Kayakas!

Splitting with the Bush administration and setting a new standard in the country”s approach to global warming, California”s legislature is about to pass the broadest carbon dioxide emissions caps in the country. The Democratic-sponsored Global Warming Solutions Act (read the full text here), which Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger (further burnishing his green bono fides), has pledged to sign, aims to “terminate” emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020. With enforcement starting in 2012, it will require the state’s major industries to clean up their act, partly by setting up a cap-and-trade program that will allow businesses to buy, sell and trade emission credits with other companies. Though oil companies and other businesses opposed the bill, citing the high costs of compliance, Silicon Valley corporations issued their support. Surprisingly, so did the giant utility Pacific Gas & Electric, which praised the plan”s “market-based mechanisms.” The Bush administration wasn”t so sanguine, warning about “any program that moves jobs and increases emissions in other states or other countries.” Okay, but if such caps inspire inspire other states–and the national government–to follow suit, there will be nowhere for the greenhouse gas emissions to go but down.

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