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California adopts 'cap-and-trade' plan DROP SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California formally adopted the nation's most comprehensive so- called ''cap-and-trade'' system Thursday, an experiment by the world's eighth-largest economy that is designed to provide finan- cial incentives for polluters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. State officials said they hoped other states and Washington, D.C., would follow suit, calling the plan a ''capstone'' among the suite of tools California can use to reduce the pollution linked to climate change and cut depen- dence on foreign oil. ''For half a century every American president has been call- ing for America to move away from our dependence on foreign oil and become energy indepen- dent,'' said Mary Nichols, chair- man of the California Air Resources Board. ''The reason we have not suc- ceeded in addressing our addic- tion to petroleum is because we did not have the right set of poli- cy tools,'' Nichols said. ''Now we do. Cap-and-trade provides a reward for doing the right thing.'' The board voted unanimously to approve the final draft of its plan, a key part of the state's landmark 2006 global warming law, AB 32, which seeks to reduce the emissions to 1990 lev- els by 2020. Some businesses regulated under the program argue it will increase the price of electricity for consumers and hurt job cre- ation by raising the cost of doing business in the state. But the pro- gram's supporters expect cap- and-trade to spur economic recovery and innovation, by push- ing business to invest in clean technologies. While implementation of some parts of the program will begin in 2012, compliance for power plants and other of the worst pol- luting facilities actually starts in 2013, with others joining in 2015. In total, the plan will cover 85 percent of California's emissions. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who frequently promoted the law, called Thurs- day's vote a ''major milestone'' in the fight against climate change. ''I have always believed that we can create a world where eco- nomic growth, energy indepen- dence and environmental protec- tion are all achieved,'' Schwarzenegger said In general, the program will require pollution producers like JAIL Continued from page 1A transition projects. Hencratt is also asking for $7,000 in start-up funding for his road work crews that are being orga- nized for inmates. The funding for all these positions would come from the limited monthly AB109 funds coming from the state. Muench, the chairman of the CCP, and County Administrative Bill Goodwin are working on proposals to present next Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors. In the meantime, sub- committees of the CCP will continue to work on narratives to contribute to the overall county realign- ment plan. Each commit- tee made a preliminary status report at the meet- ing. County Counsel William Murphy passed around a first draft of a county post release policy for consideration. A legislation committee is working to keep an eye on state and federal laws that will help clarify and implement AB109 in Tehama County. Assistant County Counsel Arthur Wylene told CCP mem- bers to suggest any items that may need legal chang- ing for them to look at. ''The reason we have not succeeded in addressing our addiction to petroleum is because we did not have the right set of policy tools. Now we do. Cap-and-trade provides a reward for doing the right thing.'' —Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols refineries and cement manufac- turers to buy permits, called allowances, from the state. Each permit allows for a specified amount of greenhouse gases each year, with the amount declining over time. Companies that cut emissions and have extra allowances can then sell the permits in a market- place; greenhouse gas emitters could purchase those allowances if they failed to cut emissions. Polluters that reduce emissions could turn a profit if the market price for extra allowances rises above the initial cost of the per- mit. A company can also meet up to 8 percent of its emissions reduc- tion obligations by purchasing carbon ''offsets,'' or investments in forestry or other projects that reduce greenhouse gases. The program, modeled on sim- ilar programs in Europe, is also designed to be able to link up with plans in other states and elsewhere to increase the size of its market for carbon allowance trading. ''Although other states and some Canadian provinces such as Quebec and British Columbia hope to link their caps to Califor- nia's, a big factor in the state's success will be whether or not they have to go it alone,'' said Jan Mazurek, director of strategy and operations for the Nicholas Insti- tute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. ''Small markets mean fewer trading opportunities — and so potentially higher costs,'' Mazurek said. To help companies prepare, 90 percent of the allowances would be free in the first years, provid- ing time for equipment upgrades. A letter sent by the California Chamber of Commerce and a host of other business groups called the 10 percent in allowances an ''arbitrary 10 percent haircut.'' The letter said that California can't fight global climate change on its own. ''We are very concerned about "Times of change like this make legislation that was unheard of five years ago conceivable," Wylene said. Officer This realignment is an opportunity for out of the box possibilities, he said. The services commit- tee, chaired by Health Ser- vices Director Valerie Lucero, reported it is working on identifying what services are available and will come up with a list of recommendations for each potential site pro- posed for incarceration, alternative sentences and post-release supervision. The law enforcement committee has began to create lists of potential sanctions for low, mid and high level probation viola- tions. They started by looking at the Shasta County methods already established. The committee looking at the building of a work farm on landfill grazing land is headed by Hen- cratt. They are looking into ankle bracelet moni- toring technology. The bracelets, that can analyze sweat for blood alcohol content and set a virtual perimeter of where the suspect is allowed to go, may cost about $6 a day, Hencratt said. "[The bracelets] are certainly something we are going to look at," he said. Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service You DO have a choice in the Red Bluff area. Caring & Compassionate Service Full traditional burial service or cremation 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 527-1732 the negative impacts the policy may have on the state's economy, jobs picture and energy costs,'' said Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western State Petroleum Association, in a state- ment. ''This policy, if adopted, will amount to a new tax on refin- ers and other energy intensive industries that could total billions of dollars over several years.'' Any electricity price increases would have to be approved by the state. The cap-and-trade plan has seen a number of changes and overcome significant hurdles since it was first adopted with fanfare in Sacramento last year. Work was briefly halted by a judge after environmental justice groups sued, arguing the market- based approach of cap-and-trade would allow polluters to buy the right to pollute more by purchas- ing more allowances. This, they argued, would affect mostly low- income neighborhoods located near governed facilities. The California Supreme Court in September allowed work to continue on the regulations. In response to these concerns, the board on Thursday also approved a new ''adaptive man- agement plan,'' under which the air quality of neighborhoods near power plants and other regulated facilities will be monitored to see if any more pollution results from cap-and-trade. If increases are found to be a result of cap-and- trade, the board said it would respond. Environmental groups that have lobbied for years for a national cap-and-trade program lauded California's regulation. ''California is proof that com- mon sense climate action is still possible on a large scale in the United States even though Wash- ington, D.C., remains grid- locked,'' said Fred Krupp, presi- dent of Environmental Defense Fund. Pre-incarceration plans are also in the works. Larry Champion, Superintendent of Schools for the county, is part of the prevention and educa- tion committee. Champion reported that the group is considering four components: serving the hardest to serve by developing a community day school; enhancing existing programs such as the police department's school resource officer position; building a pro- gram aiming for every stu- dent being a reader by third grade — a proven crime prevention method; and adult education. With every component, there is also an emphasis on parenting skills, he said. Looking at education as crime prevention with ver- ifiable data to back it up has given an avenue for change, Champion said. "It allows us to look at what we're doing in a dif- ferent way," he said. There is potentially 80 third grade children a year that could be affected by the program whose needs aren't addressed right now. The purpose of it all is to ultimately decrease the numbers of people who commit crime in Tehama County. At the other end of the spectrum, Tehama County Court Executive Officer Gina Setter has joined the CCP as chairwoman of the data collection and out- comes committee, now called the Realignment Program Evaluation group. Setter asserted the need for a data collection sys- tem. "To show anyone it's working or not, we need valid accurate data," she said. The CCP discussed possible costs of hiring a specialist to create such a system, at least to start. Board supervisor Den- nis Garton suggested that each department continue to keep track and gather data individually starting now until a data collection system can be established. The CCP will bring their discussion in part to the Board of Supervisors next Tuesday. For agenda item information see the board's website at www.co.tehama.ca.us. The next CCP meeting will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Tuscan Room of the County Administration building, 727 Oak St. ——— Andrea Wagner can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or awagner@redbluffdailyne ws.com. Over 50 years of serving Tehama County Friday, October 21, 2011 – Daily News 9A $31.03 and rabbits $35.83. Continued from page 1A Thursday going from free to $1, numbers were up about 11 percent with 13,227 people paying to get in. Fair numbers in a report to the fairboard show that is the highest number of attendance since free admission on Thursdays was added in 2007. Gate receipts at about $78,900 were up about 6 percent over the 2010 number, which was $74,750, and 2009, which was about $74,375. Saturday was the high- est attendance with about 6,137 people while Sun- day was significantly lower at 2,462, Friday was at 2,051 and Thursday was 2,577 adults. There was a free gate admission for children who were not counted among Thurs- day's numbers. Exhibitors and exhibits were also slightly down this year. The Junior Livestock Auction did quite well totaling about $425,750 with about $29,400 in add-ons. Averages per pound were: beef, $3.61; swine $4.76; lambs, $7.12; goats, $7.29; poultry, FAIR Continued from page 1A meeting in Red Bluff . "The main reason our board allowed Shasta Dis- trict Fair to join is we're between a rock and a hard spot," Workman said. "We can't afford to hire an attor- ney." They have been told by the Attorney General's Office that they could be in trouble if they didn't join the defense agreement by Fri- day, Workman said. The attorneys for the defense, which includes seven District Agricultural Associations and several counties who have their own attorney but have decided to join, have spent about 70-80 hours just to get to the point they are at, she said. "In the fair industry we're not competition," Workman said. "We're family. This sit- uation is a big mess. We're all in it together." After the bonds did not do as well as expected, CCA contacted fairs asking if they could pay more, Workman said. At one point, CCA was using Fairs and Exposition money from a rainy day fund to help fairs make a pay- ment, but the fund went dry and the bank the loan was through filed for bankruptcy, she said. The loan was bought by a company called PNC Equip- ment Finance and CCA tried to renegotiate the terms but failed to do so. While both Shasta and Tehama fair- grounds have been making their payments faithfully, there is a problem. CCA went defunct and California Fairs Services Association (CFSA) took Kerstiens said he was hopeful more people would come to Tuesday's meeting to critique the fair and what could be done better and to give input on facing the state's cut of all funding for fairs. "I'm very disappointed in the turnout tonight, especially for fair cri- tique," Kerstiens said. "That information from the public is very, valuable to base our decisions on." One decision the board faced was whether or not to hold its fair apprecia- tion dinner for those who helped tremendously with the fair. In the end, Marie Rohr of C&R Barbecue volun- teered to cover the meat for the dinner. The Tehama District Fairboard meets at on 1 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month in the Tehama Room at the Tehama District Fair- ground. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews. com. over handling the payments. In March CFSA stopped making payments. This caused PNC to bring a lawsuit against CFSA and the Tehama District Fair was named in the lawsuit, Fair CEO Mark Eidman said. "It's really convoluted," Workman said. "We were making payments. CCA quit making payments in March and put them in a trust account to try and get PNC to negotiate down to $2-3 million (instead of the $8-9 million PNC says is owed on the loan)." In the meantime, Fairs and Exposition had given about $2 million to fairs, of which Tehama received $38,000 and Shasta got $66,000, Workman said. However, now it is asking for the money back by the end of October, she said. Joining forces with other fairs who had the same fears and agendas as Tehama Dis- trict Fair was something that made the most logical sense to him, said Fairboard Vice President Ray Bianchi said. "I hate where this has gone," Eidman said. "I feel we need to join the joint defense. I feel it's the only viable option." Fairboard President Bob Kerstiens Jr. voiced concerns over penalties the fair could face, asking Workman what she thought. Workman said any penal- ties would not be for the whole loan, but just for the portion that was late. The board also approved allowing Eidman, Kerstiens and Bianchi make interim decisions between meetings should the need arise. The Fairboard meets at 1 p.m. on the third Tuesdays of the month in the Tehama Room at the Tehama District Fairground. Independently owned Telephone: (530) 824-3792