California Initiatives to Mitigate Climate Change
Friday, February 8
9:00 a.m. –10:30 a.m. PACIFIC TIME
Part of the 2008 Midyear Meeting
- Program Handouts (pdf's)
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Speaker Bio's
In the face of federal inaction, a growing number of states individually and collectively are launching efforts to control carbon emissions within their own boundaries. As in so many other areas, no state has moved as broadly and dramatically as California. Assembly Bill 32, enacted in fall 2006, has committed the state to a comprehensive, multi-decade program of greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from all "significant" stationary sources.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is currently conducting an extensive stakeholder process in preparation for issuing implementing rules. On the mobile source front, the Clean Air Act (CAA) authorizes California, with EPA approval, to set auto emission standards that differ from federal standards, and the state has used this opportunity to establish GHG standards for cars. The state's preemption waiver request has been pending before EPA for an unusually long time, but auto companies have not waited to challenge the auto standards as being preempted under the CAA and federal energy legislation. EPA has rejected the state's preemption waiver request and the dispute is headed to court. Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resource Board, will join a panel to address the California programs, the challenges and opportunities they create for the private sector, and the legal issues involved in the auto standards disputes.
Panelists:
Mary D. Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, CA
Peter Hsiao, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Los Angeles, CA
Marjorie Lewis, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Los Angeles, CA
Moderator:
Cynthia Drew, Associate Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law, Coral Gables, FL
Co-sponsored by the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources and the Standing Committee on Environmental Law.