State boosts its war on global warming

The California Air Resources Board advanced the state's global warming fight on two fronts Thursday.

By a unanimous vote, the board adopted strict standards for measuring the "carbon offsets" generated by well-managed forests. Separately, it started the regulatory wheels turning on a suite of new emissions-cutting schemes, including a plan to make big rigs more aerodynamic and fuel-efficient.

The carbon-offset move aims to foster the use of California forests as sponges for carbon dioxide. The trade in carbon offsets provides a way for forest managers to earn money for pulling carbon out of the air, and is likely to figure in the state's strategy for cutting overall emissions 25 percent by 2020.

But the lack of a respected standard for counting the carbon stored in a forest has slowed the development of the domestic offset market and soiled its reputation.

"This stuff isn't easy, which is one of the reasons why it hasn't been done, or has been done badly," said Mary Nichols, the board's chairwoman.

The rules adopted by the board Thursday are designed to meet international standards, and thus produce offsets that will hold their market value.

The board's other major vote Thursday put six new emissions-cutting proposals, to go with three approved in June, on track to become law by Jan. 1, 2010. All are still subject to revision.

They are scheduled to be the first regulations adopted under Assembly Bill 32, the state's landmark global warming law adopted last year.

Representatives from the trucking industry voiced strong reservations about the proposed big-rig rule, which would mandate a package of modifications recommended under a voluntary truck-efficiency program operated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

As written, the proposal requires all of the more than 1 million tractor-trailers that travel California roads each year to be fitted with aerodynamic skirts and tails. In addition, the dual wheels and tires on 18-wheelers would be replaced with extra-wide "super-singles," which have lower rolling resistance.

Air board staff estimate that the measures would cut emissions in California by roughly 2 million metric tons annually by 2020, if the rules are written to include interstate trucks that travel into California. Nationwide, the effect would be to reduce emissions by roughly 20 million metric tons.

But Matthew Schrap, environmental affairs manager for the California Trucking Association, said the requirements would impose unacceptable costs on some trucking businesses and would raise compatibility problems. Trailers fitted with the fairings, for instance, can't fit into sunken loading docks, he said.

"This will come back to the board in a year – we hope that in that time they're going to be able to address all those limitations," Schrap said.

The effects of the early emissions-cutting measures the board has approved in recent months will be dwarfed by a series of proposals due out next year. By June, air board staff are scheduled to release a draft of the centerpiece of the AB 32 effort: a strategy for trimming the equivalent of 100 million metric tons of carbon a year by 2020. That's the equivalent of taking 22 million average cars off the road.

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