As Trump Vows to Kill Climate Plan, California Pushes Back

Back Bloomberg Jan 23, 2017 By Joe Ryan

California plans to reduce oil-refinery emissions 20 percent by 2030, providing more details about its effort to impose the nation’s strictest air-quality rules just as President Donald Trump takes office vowing to roll back federal climate policies.

The refinery rules announced by the California Air Resources Board on Friday are part of its previously announced plan to cut overall emissions in California by 40 percent from 1990 levels. The agency also proposed continuing the state’s cap-and-trade program beyond 2020.

The initiative is the latest state-level push to bolster environmental policies moves since Trump was elected, and comes as efforts to curb global warming wane in Washington. Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York this month called for wind farms off the coast of Long Island. And Ohio, Illinois and Michigan have enacted laws to expand clean energy development.

“Climate change is impacting California now, and we need to continue to take bold and effective action,” Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said in a statement.

Trump, who once called global warming a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, announced his “America First Energy Plan” after his inauguration Friday. It called for reviving the coal industry and eliminating “harmful and unnecessary” policies, including outgoing President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan.

California plans to release a final version of its climate plan in late March, and the board will vote whether to approve it in late April.