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On September 27, 2006, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, an act that would cap California’s greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2020. This is the first law in the country establishing a mandatory cap on statewide greenhouse gas emissions. The California law requires aggressive emissions cuts, but leaves key implementation decisions to the State Air Resources Board and other agencies. The governor and the state legislature have already clashed over these questions. The stakes are high: both sides seek to set a precedent for national climate legislation. What will the effect of this law be? Will it meet California’s ambitious environmental goals? If so, at what cost?
 
Former deputy assistant of energy and Congressional Budget Office official W. David Montgomery will report on the findings of a major new study, commissioned by the Electric Power Research Institute, of the California climate law. The study uses a state-of-the-art modeling system to assess the impacts of the California law under various implementation scenarios. Dallas Burtraw, an expert in the design, costs, and benefits of environmental regulation; and Lee Lane, author of Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy (AEI Press, 2006), will comment on the study and on the economic and political ramifications of California’s emerging climate policy.

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