“California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in January 2007. “Not only can we lead California into the future; we can show the nation and the world how to get there.” Was the Governator spouting out the biggest load of hype or was he telling the truth?

California has the fifth largest economy in the world. Due to its varied geography, it has enough sunshine to supply plenty of solar energy, and windy days to keep wind turbines busy. In short, California, the most populous state in the U.S., is a force to be reckoned with. A brief history of California environmental law In the early 20th century, California passed a few pesticide laws. The first of the pesticide laws was passed in 1901 when the Director of the Agricultural Experimental Station was put in charge of determining the quality of the arsenic-based chemical commonly called “Paris Green.”

Ten years later, California passed the Insecticide and Fungicide Act of 1911, a year after U.S. Congress passed the Federal Insecticide Act. Both acts were concerned with properly labeling products and protecting the public from misleading labels. However, California’s legislation went further than its federal counterpart because it mandated that all pesticides be registered with the University of California before being sold.

A decade later, California’s Economic Poison Act became the first law in the nation to regulate the manufacture and sale of rodent and weed poisons. In 1929 the Act was amended to ensure more regulation of the poisons. Two years after World War II ended, the California Air Pollution Act created air pollution districts for every county in the state.

Twelve years later, California became the first state to create an air quality program. California began to pass the nation’s strictest automotive emissions control laws, beginning with the California Motor Vehicle State Bureau of Air Sanitation mandate of the Positive Crankcase Ventilation, designed to control hydrocarbon crankcase emissions. The Positive Crankcase Ventilation was the first automotive emissions control technology in the U.S. Later in the decade, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) set air quality standards for total suspended particulates including carbon monoxide. The ARB set the nation’s first automobile standards for nitrous oxide, and set guidelines for agricultural burning in 1971.

Then in 1984, the California Smog Check Program began identifying vehicles that needed maintenance. Six years later, the ARB set standards for cleaner-burning gasoline and low emission vehicles. In 1993, the ARB created new standards for cleaner diesel, and a year later new smog check standards were signed into law.

California environmentalism in the 21st century

“I say the debate is over-- we know the science, we see the threat, and the time for action is now,” Schwarzenegger said in 2005. Last month he said California was “taking action to protect the environment by passing laws and setting standards.” In 2006, Schwarzenegger signed California’s “global warming law,” Assembly Bill 32, which mandated that California reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 (a 30 percent reduction), and below 1990 levels by 2050 (an 80 percent reduction).

The same year Schwarzenegger signed AB 2449, which requires grocery stores and pharmacies with over 10,000 square feet of retail space to have an in-store recycling program for plastic bags. New York passed a similar law last year. “As national leaders like California and New York City adopt recycling laws, they have set an example for municipalities across the nation to creatively employ existing resources to reduce waste, improve sustainability and achieve broader environmental goals,” said Steve Russell, managing director of ACC's Plastics Division.

The 2007 Low Carbon Fuel Standard for transportation fuels requires fuel provides reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in fuels sold in California. The standard requires that carbon in fuels be reduced 10 percent by 2020. In December Governor Schwarzenegger’s staff revealed a plan to promote green chemistry and transition the state away from toxic chemicals. Every day in California, 644 million lbs. of chemicals are sold. Out of the estimated 83,000 chemicals in use, only a few hundred are green.

However, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill in September that would have banned perfluorinated compounds from food packaging by 2010. If passed, California would have been the first state to ban the compounds. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) science advisory board labeled them a “likely carcinogen,” and studies have linked them to “fetal development problems, male reproductive hormone abnormalities, and other health issues.” The chemical industry campaigned against the ban. 

California’s proposed plan to reduce emissions

The California ARB adopted a plan in December that the Los Angeles Times called the “nation's first comprehensive plan to curb greenhouse gases.” The plan creates a pollution permit trading system with the goal of cutting emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The ARB voted unanimously to target every sector of the economy, including requiring 33 percent California electricity to come from renewables, which is far more than any other state requires. The objective of the European Union (EU) is to have 20 percent of its energy come from renewables by 2020.

ARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols said California's leadership has spurred other states to move ahead. “We are filling a vacuum left by inaction at the federal level,” she said.

A cap-and-trade program is a key component of the plan, which will cover 85 percent of state’s emissions. The program was developed “in conjunction with the Western Climate Initiative,” that consists of seven states and four Canadian provinces committed to capping their emissions and creating a regional carbon market. 

Another recommendation of the plan is to fully implement the California Solar Initiative, a rebate program for electricity customers overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission.

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