Global Warming In the News

Gov. Jon Corzine today will issue an executive order that lays out stringent, new long-term goals to curb greenhouse gas emissions and portends a slew of new state regulations going far beyond improved gas mileage for cars.

Corzine has ordered the state Department of Environmental Protection in the next six months to draft a comprehensive plan for reducing emissions 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 statewide, according to a draft of the order obtained by The Star-Ledger.

Those are lofty goals by almost every measure.

California is the only other state to set such aggressive targets on greenhouse gas emissions, which the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this month cited as being "very likely" the major culprit in global warming. Scientists and environmental advocates have said an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 is a critical step in preventing the most devastating effects of global warming.

"Our recognition of climate change must be accompanied by even more aggressive and substantive efforts to forestall the course of irreversible climate change," Corzine says in his executive order, which he plans to unveil at a morning news conference in West Orange.

Angela Anderson of the National Environmental Trust said it is encouraging that Corzine has chosen "a science-based standard" rather than allowing interest groups to influence the goals. "Other states are farther along in the mechanics" of reducing emissions, she said, "but his goals are probably more aggressive than any other state."

But while environmental advocates applaud the governor's order, they say the manner in which the state tries to achieve the goals is as important as the goals themselves.

"It's great for the governor to come out supporting the strongest standards in the country," says Jeff Tittell, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club. "The next steps are the critical part. Unless we get to the implementation, we're just adding to the hot air."

DEP will develop plans for meeting the goals in conjunction with the Department of Transportation, Board of Public Utilities, the Department of Community Affairs as well as "stakeholders" -- which could include business, consumer and environmental groups. The effort is likely to focus on more efficiency in the two main sources of emissions: transportation and electricity production.

Cars, trucks, buses and mass transit account for half of the greenhouse gas emissions in New Jersey, according to Suzanne Leto Liou of Environment New Jersey. If New Jersey were its own nation, she said, it would rank 32nd in the world for such emissions.

The state likely will look at creating incentives for even greater fuel savings in cars and revamping building codes to require more energy-efficient insulation, windows and appliances.

Even minor improvements in efficiency, multiplied by a population of 8 million residents, could go a long way toward helping achieve those goals, Liou says.

The state will also look at requiring energy suppliers from outside New Jersey to meet the same standards that will be required of in-state energy companies, according to an administration official who is familiar with the plans but asked not to be named in order not to upstage the governor's announcement.

The official also said the state will look at making cars more efficient through the gas pump rather than under the hood. The state hopes to look at alternative fuels as a means of reducing emissions, rather than imposing new mechanical requirements on car makers and dealers.

Jim Appleton of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers said the state has already adopted the same strict clean car standards as California. "We're at the point now where the auto industry the last couple of decades has made significant strides toward putting on the market more clean-running cars," Appleton says.

Legislation would likely be required to implement many of the measures needed to achieve the governor's goals.

Next week, the Assembly Energy Committee will hold a public hearing in West Orange on the Global Warming Response Act (A3301/S2114), a measure sponsored by Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) and Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) that sets forth the same emission reduction targets as Corzine's executive order.

The goals outlined in Corzine's executive order echo those from an international agreement reached in the 1990s during a landmark conference in Kyoto, Japan. While dozens of nations have agreed to abide by the emission reduction targets known as the Kyoto protocols, the United States is not among them.

President Bush did mention the issue of global warming in his State of the Union address, but has not so far taken action on the federal level to reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially.

"In the absence of leadership from the Bush administration, state action to address this global challenge is that much more important," a Corzine administration official said.

Deborah Howlett may be reached at dhowlett@starledger.com or (609) 989-0273.