ACP Pubs

Loren Faulkner

Green House Gas Rules To Help California’s Economy?
September 18, 2008

California Air Resources Board released a statement yesterday that concludes enforcing strict AB32 rules will actually boost California’s economy. That is just the opposite conclusion reached by construction industry leaders, business groups, and some Republican lawmakers, according to some reports. They say cutting one-third of current gas emissions from vehicles, construction, businesses and manufacturing by 2020 will send thousands of jobs away from California and cost billions of dollars, too. (Some websites: www.ciaqc.com; www.accf.org; www.euca.org)

California’s ARB Report, however, concludes that new Green House Gas Emissions standards will result in:

--Increased economic production of $27 billion

--Increased overall gross state product of $4 billion

--Increased overall personal income by $14 billion

--Increased per capita income of $200

--Increased jobs by more than 100,000

--An estimated 300 premature deaths statewide will be avoided

--Almost 9,000 incidences of asthma and lower respiratory symptoms will be avoided

--53,000 work loss days will be avoided

ARB is seeking public comment on their new findings before they adopt their final version of the new rules at the Air Resources Board’s November hearing. Take a look at their findings at http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/cc.htm.

In the mean time, do you have any thoughts on which version of reality is the correct one? Will greenhouse gas code enforcement cause business flight out of California at the cost of $billions, or is ARB’s rosy report right on the money? Please post your comments.

Posted by Loren Faulkner on September 18, 2008 | Comments (0)