ShareThisBy MARK MARTIN
The agreement between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators to cap greenhouse gas emissions will give a state agency with a history of shaping national environmental policy tremendous new clout over the California economy.
A 46-31 vote in the Assembly on Thursday sent sweeping global warming legislation to Schwarzenegger's desk, and he has promised to sign the bill that calls for the 11-member California Air Resources Board to become the key player in the state's ambitious effort to curb carbon emissions. The board has a monumental task as it enters a years-long process of developing both regulations and market-based schemes that could affect everything from forest management to the price of gas.
The new role is an ironic twist for the board under Schwarzenegger. In the governor's first year in office, his effort to streamline state bureaucracy led the administration to propose the panel's abolishment.
That proposal was abandoned, and now the governor has agreed to place the board at the center of an effort that many believe will transform the state.
"They have stunning new authority over most of the economy _ if you use energy, you will be affected," said Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of government relations for the California Manufacturing and Technology Association.
The board will have a vast array of new responsibilities once Schwarzenegger signs the bill into law this month. Administration officials believe they will have to add about 100 new employees to the 1,100-member workforce.
In addition to setting specific reduction targets for various industries, the board must come up with ways the industries can cut emissions, and it will have the power to impose fees to implement new emission-reduction programs.
It must meet several deadlines before the ultimate target of reducing emissions by 25 percent by 2020. By January 2008, for example, the board must adopt new regulations requiring industries to report how much carbon dioxide they currently produce. By January 2011, the board is required to have virtually all of its plan in place.
The board is accustomed to the spotlight.
For nearly 40 years _ it was first created as the California Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board _ the board has forced changes that began in California and spread worldwide. The board required automakers to begin using the catalytic converter in the 1970s and ushered in unleaded gas.
Many of the board's actions were firsts in California that eventually were adopted by the federal government.
"The board has often produced earth-shattering change, and when I travel the world, the Air Resources Board is very well known and very well respected," said Alan Lloyd, who was chairman of the board from 1999 to 2005 and now is president of the International Council on Clean Transportation.
With all of its members appointed by the governor but representing different interests _ there are spots for a physician, local government officials and someone with a background in the auto industry _ the board has drawn up tough new regulations under Republican and Democratic governors and during recessions and times of economic growth.
Lloyd was first appointed to head the board under Gov. Gray Davis and was reappointed by Schwarzenegger.
He and others argued that the board has enough institutional clout that it is relatively insulated from Sacramento politics. While all appointees serve at the pleasure of the governor, no incoming head of state has ever replaced the entire board at once. It is common for governors to leave several members appointed by the previous administration.
"I never received any interference from either governor I worked for," Lloyd noted.
The board has been embroiled in controversy _ it ordered an increase in the use of the clean-air additive MTBE in gasoline only to find that the MTBE was contaminating groundwater.
And a controversial decade-long push to require that 10 percent of all cars sold in the state produce no tailpipe emissions was weakened, and in 2003, the board changed the regulations to require more hybrid and fuel-efficient cars.
The long battle has been applauded by some environmentalists for forcing the auto industry to begin to change its vehicles, but it also shows that the board can struggle with new regulations without getting some cooperation from business.
Recently, the board's regulations implementing a 2002 law requiring cars to have lower emissions have been held up because of a lawsuit by the auto industry. A trial on the regulations, which could be a major piece of the new effort to reduce greenhouse gases, is set to begin in federal court in Fresno in January.
Still, even those who have often opposed the board's moves say its rulemaking process is fair.
"They are very good at looking at the implications of regulations and trying to engage stakeholders," said Cathy Reheis-Boyd, chief operating officer of the Western States Petroleum Association.
