In Tuesday’s elections, voters in California and Iowa approved measures to produce clean energy and help the environment, while regulators in New Mexico approved new cap-and-trade plan, according to reports compiled from The Associated Press.
In California, a bid to overturn a law on climate change failed with a 60 percent no vote. Proposition 23 – which was backed by a handful of oil companies – sought to postpone limits on industrial emissions starting in 2012 and reductions in fossil fuel energy by 2020.
In Iowa, the Land and Water Legacy Amendment passed easily. It will create a fund to pay for efforts such as improving water quality, reducing soil erosion, protecting wildlife habitats and creating parks and trails.
The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board spent more than four hours considered a petition by the Environment Department to allow the state to participate in a regional cap-and-trade program with the other Western states and Canadian provinces that make up the Western Climate Initiative.
The New Mexico program calls for 2 percent reductions to begin in 2012. Facilities that are over the cap would be able to buy and even bank allowances or offsets as part of the regional trade mechanism. Facilities under the cap could profit by selling their unneeded emission allowances.
