GOV. RICHARDSON LEADS REGIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE

Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., issued the following press release:

Gov. Bill Richardson today joined the Governors of Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington to announce the formation of the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative to implement a joint strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association, Governors Janet Napolitano, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Richardson, Ted Kulongoski and Chris Gregoire signed the agreement that directs their respective states to, within the next six months, develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse gases. During the next 18 months, they will devise a market-based program, such as a load-based cap and trade program to reach the target. The five states also have agreed to participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse gas emissions in their region.

"With this agreement, states are once again taking the lead on combating global climate change - while Washington, D.C. sits on its hands," said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. "This historic agreement signals our commitment to tackling the problem head-on at the regional level and building on efforts in our individual states."

The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative builds on existing greenhouse gas reduction efforts in the individual states as well as two existing regional efforts. In 2003, California, Oregon and Washington created the West Coast Global Warming Initiative, and in 2006, Arizona and New Mexico launched the Southwest Climate Change Initiative.

During the Richardson Administration, New Mexico has been a national leader on combating global climate change. These efforts have included becoming the first state in the nation to join the Chicago Climate Exchange and the first major oil and gas producing state to tackle climate change comprehensively.

Governor Bill Richardson also recently signed an executive order that directs state agencies to follow many of the recommendations of his Climate Change Advisory Group, which produced a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 267 million metric tons.

The Governor's executive order creates a state government implementation team tasked with ensuring policies from the order are carried out. Those policies include:

* Creating a market-based greenhouse gas emissions registry and reduction program

* Advancing carbon capture and sequestration technology

* Promoting the use of manure from the dairy industry in power generation

* Developing an education and outreach program on green buildings for private sector builders

* Creating new procurement rules that ensure state government offices have energy efficient appliances

* Mandating that state vehicles use mainly clean, renewable fuels

* Proposing a one-time tax credit of up to 40 percent for the purchase, construction or retrofitting of alternative fuel filling stations.

Governor Richardson has also endorsed seeking regulations to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions of new cars and trucks sold in New Mexico and more than quadrupling New Mexico's renewable energy use by mandating that 15 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020.

In spring 2005, Governor Richardson issued an executive order establishing greenhouse gas emission reduction goals for New Mexico. These goals are 2000 levels by 2012, 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2020 and 75 percent below 2000 levels by 2050. New Mexico, along with Arizona and California, is among a growing number of states to create climate change advisory groups.

Western states have suffered from prolonged drought, decreased snowfall, increased and earlier snowmelt, and more severe and devastating forest and rangeland fires in recent years as a result of changes in the climate. The just-released Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that the Western United States will be especially affected by increased temperatures and climatic changes resulting from the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Contact: Jon Goldstein, 505/476-2248.