[ADEQ Media] Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Pollution Presented to Governor

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Pollution Presented to Governor 

PHOENIX (Sept. 23, 2008) - Gov. Janet Napolitano today received the
recommendations for the design of a regional market-based cap and trade
program for the Western Climate Initiative (WCI).  The WCI is a
collaboration among seven Western U.S. States, including Arizona, and
four Canadian provinces to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the
western United States and Canada.  The WCI recommendations were
developed after an extensive stakeholder process.

"In the absence of federal leadership, it is up to the states and
provinces to take action to address the serious problem of climate
change and reduce greenhouse gas pollution," Governor Napolitano said.
"A lot of hard work has gone into these recommendations, and I look
forward to reviewing them closely."
 
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens, who
serves as co-chair of the WCI, said the recommendations will provide a
blueprint for future actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in
Arizona and throughout the West.

"Scientific studies show clearly that Arizona and the West will be one
of the areas hardest hit by the effects of climate change, including
prolonged droughts, increased temperatures and heat waves, worsening air
pollution, more intense forest and rangeland fires and other impacts,"
Director Owens said. "We have to start taking action now to reduce
Arizona's greenhouse gas emissions."

The WCI was launched in February 2007 by the states of Arizona,
California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Since then, they have
been joined by Utah and Montana and the Canadian provinces of British
Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario. Together, the seven states and
four provinces represent approximately 73 percent of the Canadian
economy and 20 percent of the U.S. economy. Formal observers of the WCI
include the states of Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, and
Wyoming, the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and the Mexican States
of Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, and
Tamaulipas. 

The WCI has set a regional goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in
the West to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. 

Arizona has the fastest GHG emissions rate of growth in the U.S.
Between 1990 and 2005 Arizona's GHG emissions grew by nearly 56 percent,
roughly two-and-a-half times the national average. If unchecked,
Arizona's GHG emissions are projected to grow by 140 percent over 1990
levels by the year 2020 and by 200 percent over 1990 levels by 2040. 

The recommendations can be found on the WCI website at
www.westernclimateinitiative.org.  

-30-

News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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