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 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...
An independent report released by the Analysis Group, a private consulting firm, found overall economic gains of more than $1.6 billion from the first three years of the operation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a regional greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program implemented by 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
This finding reflects the direct and indirect benefits of investments made by the states from the proceeds of GHG allowance auctions, reductions in fuel costs to consumers from energy efficiency investments, and lost revenue to electricity generators because of reduced electricity demand.
Georgetown Climate Center summarized key findings from the report....
More than 80 media sources ran a story last week about the launch of the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network due, in part, to an Associated Press piece that helped break the news. The story was picked up by News Day, Business Week, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe to name a few.
The story was also aired extensively on radio and TV networks, including NPR affiliates, Northeast Public Radio and the following TV stations: NWNJ TV (New Jersey – New York), WFMZ-IND TV (Philadelphia), WTXF-FOX (Philadelphia), WUSA-CBS (Washington, DC – Hagerstown, MD), WGGB-ABC (Springfield, MA – Holyoke, MA), WNYT-NBC (Albany – Schenectady – Troy...
