New Jersey has taken the next step on reducing greenhouse gas emissions:
The New Jersey Legislature passed a bill yesterday that set ambitious goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants, refineries, motor vehicles and other sources that contribute to global warming.
Business leaders expressed concerns about the bill’s effect on energy costs and the state’s competitiveness, but environmental advocates hailed it as pathbreaking, and Gov. Jon S. Corzine said he was ready to sign it into law.
Under the new law, greenhouse gas emissions generated by every aspect of the state’s economy, not just electricity-generating stations, will have to drop about 13 percent, to 1990 levels, by 2020. The bill further requires that emissions be capped at 80 percent of 2006’s levels by 2050.
A few other states have set emissions reduction goals, but none go as far into the future as New Jersey’s. California, which passed a similar law earlier this year that was widely considered the toughest in the country, extends only to 2020.
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