California Air Agency Report 'Intentionally Excluded Costs' Of Climate Change Bill

November 28, 2008 7:30 a.m. EST

Sacramento, CA (AHN) - The analytical arm of the California Legislature said the state's clean air agency "intentionally excluded the costs and savings" associated with some aspects of a major climate change bill.

The Legislative Analyst's Office also said some of the goals in the bill may be unrealistic in the current economic climate.

The bill aims at reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. It calls for aggressive approaches to be taken by just about every economic sector in the state. But the Legislative Analyst's Office said the "scoping plan" developed by the state's Air Resources Board, or ARB, failed to realistically calculate how much the bill may cost businesses and households in the state.

"It appears that ARB selected measures for inclusion in the scoping plan and then conducted its economic analysis of the plan as a whole after the fact," the LAO report released Nov. 17 states. "In fact, ARB deemed all measures included in the plan 'cost effective' simply because they reduce GHG emissions, whatever the cost."

The LAO said ARB's scoping plan fails to layout an investment "pathway" to reach its greenhouse gas reduction goals by 2020. Such a plan would let businesses and households prepare for the real economic impact of the bill, according to the LAO.

"This information is very important to businesses and households that would be responsible for these investments, especially in the current climate of economic uncertainty and scarce credit," the report says.

The LAO went on to say that the bill could make it possible that "some businesses could lose money or go out of business."