What A Difference A Year Makes: California Delays Its New Carbon Trading Program

California's innovative cap-and-trade program to control greenhouse gas emissions will have to wait another year. Air Resources Board ("ARB") Chairwoman Mary Nichols testified to state lawmakers that the ARB planned "to initiate the program in 2012, but start the requirements for compliance in 2013," a full year after the planned start date.

The postponement was not a surprise. Last March, a state court enjoined the program, ruling that the ARB had failed to meet the procedural requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") in adopting its cap-and-trade regulations by (1) failing to adequately describe and analyze alternatives in its Scoping Plan, specifically with regard to its justification for a cap-and-trade program, and (2) improperly beginning to implement the Scoping Plan prior to completing its CEQA-required environmental review process. More details regarding the ruling are available in our prior update here.