| News on Climate Action, page 9 | ||
Colorado joins voluntary greenhouse gas emissions registry, Rocky Mountain News, May 9, 2007. Thirty one states representing 70% of the nation’s population have joined in the Climate Registry, begun in California, to track polluters’ emissions of greenhouse gases. British Columbia joins Schwarzenegger's 'carbon credits' trading market, Vancouver Sun, April 25, 2007. British Columbia joins the five-state Western Greenhouse Gas Initiative that will set targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions and create a regional emissions-reduction market. Lawmakers approve climate-change bill, Seattle Times, April 23, 2007 and Environment bill limits emissions, Seattle Times, April 13, 2007. The Washington state legislature passes major greenhouse gas reduction requirements (to achieve a 50% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050), and prohibits utilities from entering into long-term contracts with coal-fired power plants that produce excessive greenhouse gases. Tri-State delays 2nd power plant, and PUC says Xcel unit skirted power rules, Denver Post, April 19, 2007. Major utilities are backing away from new coal-fired power plants in Colorado. Govs push 'clean' coal, conservation, Salt Lake Tribune, April 17, 2007. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman hosts the National Governors Association and the Utah Energy Summit, and pushes clean, renewable energy and efficiency as priorities for the West. Go green? Go West, Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2007. Western governors are finding bi-partisan, widespread public support as they advance the nation's most ambitious policies to promote clean energy, encourage conservation, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. "It's a massive shift in not just policy but … voter attitudes," says New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. The newest cash crop: Ethanol, Denver Post, April 8, 2007. The rapidly rising demand for ethanol as a vehicle fuel has major repercussions, positive and negative, in the West and the nation. Power producers wrestle with economic uncertainties about coal technologies and carbon sequestration:
Investments in renewable resources continue to grow:
States continue to lead the way:
Governors Team to Reduce Gas Emissions, Washington Post, February 27, 2007. The Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington sign an initiative to work cooperatively on greenhouse gas emissions, featuring a cap-and-trade program to be structured during the next year. Governor Schwarzenegger calls it "a powerful framework for developing a national cap-and-trade program. ... This agreement shows the power of states to lead our nation addressing climate change." Capitol gung-ho on green, Rocky Mountain News, March 6, 2007. The Colorado Legislature is moving more than a dozen renewable and efficient energy bills through the process, including doubling the Renewable Energy Standard for electric utilities, incentives to build power transmission lines to serve renewable sources, building codes, and biofuels. Governor's renewable energy measure clears Legislature, Associated Press, March 2, 2007. In New Mexico, the legislature completes bills to double the Renewable Energy Standard and to finance and build power transmission lines for renewable sources. In Energy Conservation, California Sees Light, Washington Post, February 17, 2007. California’s innovative energy conservation policies have resulted in no growth in energy consumption per person since 1974, while in the rest of the country, average consumption has increased 50%. Carbon sequestration: Carbon dioxide research goes underground, Denver Post, February 17, 2007. The Colorado Geological Survey is on the cutting edge of research on carbon sequestration, one of the more challenging pieces of the greenhouse gas reductions puzzle. Xcel's plans for clean-coal plant may grow, Rocky Mountain News, March 1, 2007. New IGCC coal plants on the drawing boards in Colorado may use carbon sequestration to reduce emissions even more. Fighting global warming by burying carbon dioxide, Scripps News, February 12, 2007. California is also working on it. Scientist touts potential of geothermal, Associated Press, January 31, 2007. An M.I.T. study of U.S. geothermal energy resources concludes that deep bedrock wells could deliver 100,000 megawatts of energy by 2050 with an investment of about $1 billion. The West has the best potential. "You're looking at a total energy resource that is larger than fossil and fissile (nuclear) fuels combined," says Don Brown of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. California bans greenhouse gas power sources and Wyoming has opportunities in California's 'green' energy market, Casper Star Tribune, January 26, 2007. The Californian Public Utilities Commission adopts an electric utilities greenhouse gas performance standard, which prohibits long term contracts for power sources with high carbon dioxide emissions. Wyoming officials say they can meet those standards with renewable and coal gasification sources. Water suppliers worried about warming, Vail Daily, January 22, 2007. The Colorado River Water Conservancy District considers how climate change could affect proposals to divert water from Colorado’s West Slope to the Front Range. Eric Kuhn, district general manager (and co-chair of the RMCO Climate Action Panel), cites a study projecting a 35% drop in Colorado River flows by 2050. "If climate change were to reduce stream flows, is there really a reliable water supply for these projects?" Kuhn asks.
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