Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico, from original article at LA Times by Evan Halper, Ralph Vartabedian.
The new carbon emissions law requires the state of California to cut carbon dioxide emissions back to 1990's levels by the year 2020. Carbon dioxide, the gas scientists have labeled as the reason for global warming, is released during the burning of fossil fuels. To meet the new requirements many California Energy Companies have sold their stakes in energy companies hundreds of miles out of the state such as the Four corners Plant in New Mexico. (Although California sold it's stake, the power now goes to an Arizona costumer instead)
However, even though California is relinquishing control of its share of the factories power, that doesn't mean that the plants can't now sell that power to other states. After all, California has no power over the interstate commerce of other states. So technically, just because California isn't buying the power, it doesn't mean the coal isn't being burned for the purposes of other western states which leads to no reduction of emissions.
For years California has been relying on cheap coal generated power in other states such as Nevada and Utah for one third of it's total power and now many utility companies are severing connections right and left in attempts to meet the mandate. Environmentalists argue Californians should be doing more to make sure energy companies not only stop buying the electricity from the plants, but also cut down on the pollutants coming from the plants themselves.
Governor Jerry Brown argues that by making such a bold move California utilities could upset the fragile interstate trade system as we know it.
Although the success of the law can be truly only be tracked on paper do you think that it will eventually have a positive impact on carbon dioxide emissions?
California has stricter carbon dioxide emission legislation than many western states, why do you think this is?
California is the most populous state in the nation, if we are cutting back on energy imports, how do you think that affects the energy market as a whole?
2 comments:
The new law cutting emissions down to the levels of 1990 is bold and will be challenging. California cannot control what other states are doing. The law was written for California, not other states, so we cannot expect the other states to follow suit. However, we can lead by example. Since California will be purchasing less power from these other high polluting out of state power plants, these out of state power plants will not be making as much money and will have to sell power for less. This will encourage these out of state power plants to convert their plants to be greener so they can receive top dollar for their energy. This is a typical supply and demand issue and since we are their biggest consumers, they will most likely come around to a more acceptable method.
I feel this a good step in the right direction, however I feel more needs to be done and faster. I my opinion it would have been smarter rather that the state create more subsidies to promote more sustainable energy sources such as the solar power plants and wind farms, though we might seem ahead of the game when in comparison to other states we are far behind the transition to all sustainable energy when in comparison to other country on the world scale. This law seems mostly superficial in the fact of how it is not actually directly helping the environment, though with beyond influencing other states to be more environmentally friendly, I also have to believe this is influencing the economy to push a heavier reliance on environmentally friendly sources . I believe that California is the most progressive state however and with being so pushes us to be more environmentally aware every day.
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