Climate law expected to benefit California's economy
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The Californian landmark global warming law will benefit the state's economy in many ways rather than affecting it, according to a study released on Wednesday.
The new analysis rebuts earlier projections that the law will drag California's economy and cut jobs, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) said in the study.
The California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and various companies claimed in an earlier report that implementing the climate law could cost the state 485,000 jobs by 2020, a sharp contrast to the air board's finding that the law would yield a net increase of 10, 000 jobs.
The CARB said opponents to the law were trying to suspend the regulations by presenting flimsy projections.
"Shifting the economy away from fossil fuels and toward more renewable energy means that some businesses, including green technology, will benefit, while others will see their costs go up, " CARB board Chairwoman Mary D. Nichols said.
"This shows we can implement the law and that growth in the California economy will be large and unabated," Nichols said.
In recent weeks, the protracted battle over the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, known as AB 32, has flared anew as oil refiners and other industries have poured more than 950,000 dollars into signature-gathering for a November ballot initiative to delay climate-related rules, according to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
Under the law, the state's emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere, would drop 15 percent by 2020.
New regulations would boost solar, wind and other renewable power, cut the carbon intensity of gasoline, promote electric cars, discourage sprawl and wedge energy-saving measures into home- building, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy.
Taking into account the current economic downturn, the CARB's report concluded that California's gross state product will grow to 2.5 trillion dollars over the next decade, only 0.2 percent less than it would without the climate law. Jobs will grow to 18.4 million -- 0.1 percent more than without the law.
The document acknowledged that some industries, such as fossil- fuel-burning utilities, mining and energy-intensive manufacturing like cement plants, could be hard hit under new climate rules.
Others more allied with a green economy are expected to prosper, and small business, particularly in labor-intensive and service- oriented sectors, "will bear a less-than-proportional share of the direct economic costs of implementing AB 32," according to the study.
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