California Governor Orders New Target for Emissions Cuts
Source: NY Times
LOS ANGELES Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday sharply ramping up this states already ambitious program aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, saying it was critical to address an ever-growing threat posed by global warming to the states economy and well-being.
Under Mr. Browns order, by 2030, emission levels will have to be reduced by 40 percent compared with 1990. Under existing state law, emissions are supposed to be cut 80 percent from what they were in 1990 by 2050, and Mr. Brown said this tough new interim target was essential to helping the state make investment and regulatory decisions that would assure that goal was reached.
Mr. Brown faulted Republicans in Congress for pooh-poohing the threat of global warming. He said that he wanted California to set an example for the rest of the country and the world on the urgency of responding to what he described as a slow-moving crisis.
Its a real test, Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said in a speech at an environmental conference in downtown Los Angeles. Not just for California, not just for America, but for the world. Can we rise above the parochialisms, the ethno-centric perspectives, the immediacy of I-want-I-need, to a vision, a way of life, that is sustainable?
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/us/california-governor-orders-new-target-for-emissions-cuts.html
San Francisco Chronicle:
Jerry Brown orders big cut in greenhouse gases by 2030