In what Arnold Schwarzenegger describes as a “historic agreement”, big business in the state of California will be forced to drastically cap CO2 emissions.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood action hero turned Governor of California, has gone against his own Republican Party to strike a deal with state legislature controllers, the Democratic Party, over the Golden State’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Under Arnie’s plan, major industry will have to cut its output of greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020 but will be able to trade emissions credits.
“We can now move forward with developing a market-based system that makes California a world leader in the effort to reduce carbon emissions,” the governor said in a statement before possibly muttering, “I’ll be back”.
The bill was passed today by Californian senators voting 23-14 in favour of the plan. It is now expected to be backed by California’s Democrat-controlled Assembly.
California is most heavily populated state in the union and is the world’s 12th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The new legislation would make the state the first impose such restrictions.
The bill does however come with a catch. Mr Schwarzenegger will be allowed to delay the emission cap target if the state is hit by a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
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