California Air Resources Board Approves Final Cap-And-Trade Regulations

On October 20, 2011, the California Air Resources Board ("CARB") approved the final regulation for the California cap-and-trade program authorized by California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). As anticipated, CARB approved recent modifications to the regulation proposed in July and September 2011, paving the way for a cap-and-trade program with a compliance start date of January 1, 2013 for most entities covered by the regulation.

Under the cap-and-trade program, certain facility operators, including the operators of electricity generating facilities located in California, electricity importers and self-generators of electricity, will need to comply with California's mandatory reporting regulation if such entity's reported annual emissions in any year from 2008 to 2011 equal or exceed thresholds identified in the regulation. The applicability threshold for most facility operators, including electricity generating facilities, is currently set at 25,000 metric