State Action
The Georgetown Climate Center works collaboratively with states and regional climate initiatives to advance effective climate, adaptation, and transportation policies, and to strengthen state and federal climate partnerships.
The Center serves as the convener of the Governors’ Energy and Climate Coalition and the Transportation and Climate Initiative and helps facilitate ongoing information sharing among the nation's three regional climate initiatives.
News and Updates
On behalf of the Transportation and Climate Initiative, Dr. James Winebrake recently conducted an analysis of all freight moving through the northeastern United States.
Dr. Winebrake has recently given several presentations discussing his analysis, and you can download one of his recent PowerPoint presentations here. The presentation shows some examples of emissions, costs and time for freight routes, and potentially sets the stage for additional work in this area.
For more information, please contact Gabriel Weil at gaw22@law.georgetown.edu.
Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio State Programs to Attract, Retain and Retool Clean Energy Businesses
Clean energy businesses help reduce greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy and energy efficiency. They enable technology, such as advanced batteries, for hybrid and electric vehicles, which reduce gasoline consumption, and they create jobs in new and growing sectors of the economy.
States have taken a variety of approaches to attracting these businesses. Several states pursue industry sector “clusters” and related supply chains, whether solar, wind or automotive.
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On December 29, 2011, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene, holding that California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) violated the dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The court also granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction, prohibiting enforcement of the LCFS until the litigation is completed.
Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill acted in response to summary judgment motions filed by California and by two groups of plaintiffs – one associated with corn ethanol producers and led by the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU), and one associated with petroleum producers, refiners and users led by the...
On December 7, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) published an Advanced Clean Car package of regulations to be considered for adoption at the ARB meeting on January 26, 2012. The package, containing amendments to California’s Low Emission Vehicle and Zero Emission Vehicle regulations, will require car manufacturers to offer for sale in California an increasing percentage of low emission and zero emission vehicles by 2025, and are designed to help the state achieve its goal of reducing GHG emissions by 80% by 2050.
The proposed Low Emission Vehicle (LEV III) amendments are intended to reduce fleet-wide average...
Private- and public-sector organizations from across the country, including General Motors, Tesla, Coca-Cola, and Northeast Utilities, gathered with representatives from northeast states and clean cities coalitions recently to discuss ways to expedite the deployment of electric vehicles.
The dialogue was the first stakeholder event held to discuss next steps for the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network. The states launched the initiative in October.
A couple of suggestions raised by participants included:
- Identifying best practices for incentives (both monetary and non-monetary) to encourage the sale of electric vehicles and the development of electric vehicle infrastructure.
- Taking action to remove obstacles to electric vehicle...
A broad group of U.S. states and Canadian provinces have formed the North America 2050 Initiative (NA 2050) to facilitate efforts to design, promote and implement cost-effective policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create economic opportunities.
According to an article in BNA Daily Environment Report:
The forum grew out of an effort that began in 2009 when representatives of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the East, the Western Climate...
The state of California and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba announced on Nov. 17, 2011, that they are launching a new non-profit, Western Climate Initiative (WCI), Inc., to provide administrative and technical services to support the implementation of state and provincial greenhouse gas emissions trading programs.
The states and provinces are all members of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a regional collaboration of independent...
