Aiming to be the progeny of AB 32, a bill by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) directing the use of funds from auctioning carbon credits passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee April 23. SB 1572 is legislation waiting to happen. It could be the vehicle for billions of dollars in greenhouse gas auction credit revenues to the state. Politicians have said that there’s up to $3 billion in potential income from the state’s cap-and-trade program--a program that’s being linked to a similar one in Quebec, but is not shared by the rest of the nation. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas polluters are set to be granted auction credits, which can then be sold on a market. The law is an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. SB 1572 is expected to pinpoint “who’s responsible,” noted Sen. Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo). “We have to have an account of some kind,” added Pavley. She said the bill “facilitates discussion” for the use of expected auction revenues. It passed 5-2. Pavley is the author of the state’s greenhouse gas reduction law, AB 32, passed in 2006. In other legislative action, the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee April 24 kept a bill by Sen. Michael Rubio (D-East Bakersfield) moving forward by passing it 8-1. SB 1139 would establish a regulatory framework for carbon capture and storage facilities in California, particularly those in which carbon dioxide is injected into the ground to pressurize old oil fields to enhance petroleum production (Current, April 20, 2012). After an upcoming spin through the Senate Appropriations Committee, under a plan worked out between Rubio and Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, the bill is to be amended on the floor. Then it is to be returned to Environmental Quality for concurrence. Chiefly at issue are environmental protection concerns. The proposed 288 MW Hydrogen Energy California Project would be the first carbon capture and storage project in California. To be located in Kern County, the CO2 captured from the plant would be used for enhanced oil recovery operations in the old Elk Hills petroleum field.
