Corzine demands cut in greenhouse gas emissions Bill similar to executive order is under review in the state Legislature BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer Gov. Jon Corzine signed an executive order on Feb. 13 that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 80 percent. The order is virtually identical to a bill introduced in the Legislature in June. Both the bill and the order mandate that greenhouse gas emissions in the state be cut by 20 percent by the year 2020 and 80 percent by the year 2050. In order to do this, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will work with the Board of Public Utilities, Department of Transportation and the Department of Community Affairs, among others. This will lead the DEP to make specific recommendations in conjunction with the state's Energy Master Plan, which will incorporate greenhouse gas reduction in its goals. These recommendations will spring, partially, from an inventory of current greenhouse gases and from a monitoring system that will track them. The bill and the order call on the DEP to create both. After this, the department will give a progress report every two years. The emissions reduction path follows the mandates outlined in the Kyoto Protocols, an international environmental treaty that seeks to blunt global warming's impact. The United States has not signed on to this policy, despite being one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases in the world. This has not stopped a number of other initiatives from being developed on a local level, however. The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, where individual municipalities attempt to meet the goals set forth by Kyoto, is one of those initiatives. Hundreds of municipal governing bodies have signed onto it, including Newark, Brick and South Brunswick, among others in New Jersey. Meanwhile, across the country, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently pledged a similar measure. Corzine sees his measure, which is still relatively uncommon among states, as an example of the individual initiative being undertaken at the state and local levels. "In the absence of leadership on the federal level, the burden has now fallen upon state executives and legislatures to lead the way on this issue, and I'm proud that New Jersey is helping to blaze this trail," Corzine said. Corzine's executive order greatly pleased the sponsors of the initial bill in the Assembly, A-3301. "One of our goals, certainly, was to have the governor take action, so this is really a great step forward," said Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer), who, along with Assembly members Linda Stender (D-Middlesex/Somerset/Union), Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), were prime sponsors of the bill. Greenstein, who said the bill was an effort on the part of the Legislature and environmental groups like the Sierra Club, noted that they may still take action to pass the measure into law. The order and the bill coincide with the formation of what Greenstein called a Green Caucus in the Legislature that will focus on environmental issues. The group is thus far composed of all the legislation's sponsors as well as Sens. Thomas Kean (R-Essex/Morris/Somerset/Union) and Buono (D-Middlesex). According to Greenstein, it will focus on things such as air and water quality, energy efficiency and energy independence. As the caucus is new, the specifics as to what will be focused on and how is still being formed, but Greenstein said that one of the ideas was to meet with different businesses in the state and get them involved in this process, though she also noted that regulation will also play a role. "We wanted to contact some of the other large companies not doing as much and attempt to get them involved in this and bring them in ... but obviously, if we pass legislation or if there is an executive order or regulations, companies may be required to do these things anyway," said Greenstein. The executive order comes on the heels of a United Nations report that confirmed humans are causing the planet's temperature to rise by producing greenhouse gases, which trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere instead of letting it dissipate into space.