States Lead on Global Warming Action

From coast to coast, governors press forward

Posted: 07-Feb-2007; Updated: 08-Feb-2007

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From Massachusetts to California, states are taking global warming action.

Against the backdrop of renewed global warming debate on Capitol Hill, states aren't sitting idly by waiting for Washington to act.

January was a banner month for statewide global warming actions. Here's brief wrap up on global warming headlines from state capitals across the country:

• January 4th – New Hampshire Governor John Lynch announced his plan to require 25 percent of all the state's energy to come from renewable sources by 2025.

• January 10th – In his State of the State speech, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a new statewide low-carbon fuel standard for all transportation fuels to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from passenger vehicles throughout the state by 10 percent by 2020.

• January 11th – Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter announced his commitment to adopt the Western Governor's Association resolution calling for a 20 percent increase in statewide energy efficiency by 2020, transitioning state vehicles to hybrid or flex-fuel vehicles and his support for the creation of a Colorado Clean Energy Fund to support new energy technologies.

• January 17th – In his State of the State speech, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced a "Next Generation Energy" plan with broad energy goals, including generating 25 percent of the state's energy from renewable sources by 2025, increasing wind power five-fold by 2025 and reducing fossil fuel use in the state by 15 percent by 2015.

• January 17th – South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford announced a plan in his State of the State speech to form a commission of up to 30 global warming stakeholders from the Palmetto State to meet regularly throughout the year to develop a statewide strategy for dealing with global warming pollution.

• January 18th – Newly sworn-in Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts upheld a campaign promise by recommitting the Bay State to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is a regional cap-and-trade system among the northeastern states focused on cutting global warming pollution from power plants.

• January 22nd – Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced his support for statewide "Clean Car" legislation that would reduce global warming emissions and other harmful air pollution from Maryland passenger vehicles by 20 to 30 percent, according to the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

• January 31st – In his 2007 budget, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced the creation of a new state Office on Climate Change under the Department of Environmental Conservation to combat New York's contribution to global warming.

Read more on what states have been doing to fight global warming.

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