House
Bill 226
What is the Global Warming Solutions Act?
The Global Warming Solutions Act sets an enforceable limit on the amount of global warming pollution Hawai`i creates. The measure sets up the policy goal and framework to begin the process of reducing Hawaii’s greenhouse gas emissions. The measure directs the state Department of Health to conduct rulemaking over the next four years to prescribe the steps needed to achieve the short term goal of reducing Hawaii’s greenhouse gas emissions to the state’s 1990 levels by 2020. Hawaii's contribution to climate change will be significantly reduced under HB 226:
The measure has three basic steps:
- Identify all sources of greenhouse gases, including secondary sources. Termed “leakage” in the measure, greenhouse gas emissions increased outside of the state due to Hawai`i activity (i.e. by importing ethanol or hydrogen that has been produced from fossil sources outside of the state) must count in the inventory. Unlike many other environmental pollutants, the effect of greenhouse gas emissions is not regional or local, but global. The impacts will be the same regardless source emission location.
- Regulate greenhouse gas emissions as a pollutant. This bill does not prescribe exactly how this will be done, rather it directs the Administration (specifically Department of Health) to produce appropriate regulations to meet the emissions target. The Department can go through a rigorous process – working with all of the stakeholders – to establish the regulations.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is obviously the most important step. The interim step is reducing greenhouse gas emissions to Hawaii’s 1990 emission level by 2020. The reductions are then to continue beyond 2020 through clear regulatory targets set by the Department.
Read the current draft of HB 226 here.
Aren’t we already reducing our greenhouse gas emissions through the energy policy we’ve enacted recently?
Not necessarily. In 2006, Hawai`i emitted more greenhouse gas from human causes than it ever has in the history of these islands. Over the next ten years, it will emit even more. While some of the recent clean energy policies (such as solar tax credits, energy efficiency incentives, and the renewable portfolio standard) certainly help, we are really running to stand still with our clean energy supply.
Further, some incentives may have an antagonizing affect on our overall greenhouse gas emissions. The ethanol producer credit has encouraged some local agricultural interests to consider importing Australian coal as a fuel to convert molasses to ethanol, using over four pounds of coal for each gallon of ethanol produced. Such policies do little, if anything, to reduce our contribution to global climate change. Of course, if the current policies are fostering the type of change in our energy supply necessary to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, then enactment of the Global Warming Solutions Act will be mostly pro forma, yet a critical statement to make.
Shouldn’t we just study this issue for a while and then come up with a plan?
While punting on this issue is an attractive option, it is unfair to current and future generations. It is also unfair to local businesses, who need ample lead-time to plan for any future regulations. The process created in the Global Warming Solutions Act starts with a study of the extent of the problem and then conducts a thorough, 4-year rulemaking process that involves all of the stakeholders.
Shouldn’t we wait for federal action to address this problem?
Holding out for binding international agreements or federal action is a risky approach. That’s why states are quickly setting their own emission reductions goals, such as California’s AB 32 from 2006. In fact, the California Senate is currently considering moving up the emissions deadlines in the law for swifter action.
The Global Warming Solutions Act sends clear directions to the state Department of Health to ensure that any local regulations are consistent with any federal or international law that may be enacted.
© 2007 Rising Tide Hawai`i.