Tyler Hamilton in the Toronto Star: The next climate vote you should care about

Full article: "The next climate vote you should care about"

"Provincially [Ontario] there are even greater uncertainties on the greenhouse-gas file, and it’s directly related to the outcome of an election to take place next Tuesday in California.... [V]oters on Nov. 2 will also be asked whether California should accept or reject Proposition 23, which would suspend the state’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act.

"A 'yes' vote would essentially bring to a halt all of the emission-reduction initiatives related to the act until the unemployment rate in America’s largest economy drops to below 5.5 per cent for four quarters in a row – an unlikely event given California’s history.

"One initiative that a 'yes' vote would likely kill is the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a regional carbon cap-and-trade market being set up by four Canadian provinces, including Ontario, and seven U.S. states. WCI’s stated mandate is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 15 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

"The WCI carbon trading system is set to launch at the beginning of 2012. This first phase would affect power generators and large industrial emitters (cement plants, refineries, steel makers, etc.) of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.

"But of the 11 WCI members only five jurisdictions—California, New Mexico, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia – have passed the legislation required to begin carbon trading in 2012.

If California bows out the dominoes are likely to fall and WCI’s future will be in doubt. "