Washington governor orders cutbacks in emissions

[tomm2thumbs]

Source: LA Times

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire sidestepped her Legislature's refusal to adopt a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gases, signing an executive order Thursday to achieve similar reductions by ratcheting back coal-fired electricity and automobile emissions.

"I wanted cap-and-trade. I didn't get it," said Gregoire, a Democrat, whose order directs government agencies to expand public transit and other programs to meet auto emissions goals, and to reach agreement with the state's only coal-fired power plant to reduce its carbon output at least 50% by 2025.
. . .

Gregoire's order is designed to realize similar carbon reductions by negotiation, incentive and administrative regulation. "This readies Washington state to implement a federal cap-and-trade program immediately," she said.

The order came as the federal Environmental Protection Agency held a second and final hearing in Seattle on its proposal to find that greenhouse gases pose a danger to humans and therefore are subject to regulation under the federal Clean Air Act -- potentially one of the most far-reaching regulatory moves since the agency began overseeing air pollution in the 1960s.




Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-global-warming22-2009may22,0,6283492.story

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Has President Obama used his Executive Order powers to the degree he can? Just wondering aloud about other issues he is not addressing as of yet -