steveox
07-06-2007, 02:53 PM
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - New Jersey on Friday became the first U.S. state to mandate sharp greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 in an effort to fight climate change.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, signed a law on Friday making the state the latest to bypass the Bush administration by setting mandatory regulations to fight emissions of gases scientists link to global warming.
"We want to send a message to Washington. Wake up, get with the program and start doing something about greenhouse gases," Corzine told reporters at Giants Stadium on the eve of former Vice President Al Gore's international Live Earth concerts.
The Global Warming Response Act mandates economywide cuts of greenhouse gas emissions by about 16 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 in the country's most densely populated state.
Scientists say heat-trapping emissions need to be cut by that much to prevent the worst effects of global warming including deadly storms, flooding and droughts.
U.S. states have taken action on their own and in regional groups because the federal government has not yet passed mandatory regulations on the emissions.
Bush opposes mandatory cuts of the gases, favoring voluntary goals.
The U.S. Congress is mulling several bills that would cut output of the gases by employing market mechanisms to trade the right to pollute. But whether a bill will pass before Bush leaves office in 2009 is a matter of keen debate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070706/pl_nm/climate_emissions_nj_dc
This is a step in the Right Direction. States have to make their Own Laws Not depending on the Federal Goverment to do it.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, signed a law on Friday making the state the latest to bypass the Bush administration by setting mandatory regulations to fight emissions of gases scientists link to global warming.
"We want to send a message to Washington. Wake up, get with the program and start doing something about greenhouse gases," Corzine told reporters at Giants Stadium on the eve of former Vice President Al Gore's international Live Earth concerts.
The Global Warming Response Act mandates economywide cuts of greenhouse gas emissions by about 16 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 in the country's most densely populated state.
Scientists say heat-trapping emissions need to be cut by that much to prevent the worst effects of global warming including deadly storms, flooding and droughts.
U.S. states have taken action on their own and in regional groups because the federal government has not yet passed mandatory regulations on the emissions.
Bush opposes mandatory cuts of the gases, favoring voluntary goals.
The U.S. Congress is mulling several bills that would cut output of the gases by employing market mechanisms to trade the right to pollute. But whether a bill will pass before Bush leaves office in 2009 is a matter of keen debate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070706/pl_nm/climate_emissions_nj_dc
This is a step in the Right Direction. States have to make their Own Laws Not depending on the Federal Goverment to do it.