California emissions law inspires Illinois

By Michael Martinez
Tribune national correspondent
Published February 12, 2007

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Juan Molina can no longer wait for the nation's green movement to come to his doorstep, which is one house away from the "diesel death zone" of Interstate Highway 710.

Frequently the trendsetter, California is providing the nation's most aggressive law yet in response to a growing belief, advanced by an international study this month, that mankind and its pollutants are making the planet warmer.

With Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger taking a lead role against traditional interests in his party, California will impose restrictions on just about every business to reduce carbon emissions under a law that took effect in January.

Other states in the West as well as New England are devising measures, but none has passed a law as groundbreaking as the Golden State's, experts and officials said."California has taken the lead in actually establishing a law to do it," said Chris Field, director of the department of global ecology at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University. "I think one of the goals of the California legislature and governor was to come up with an initiative that was tougher than anybody else's, and they want the bragging rights of having the strongest climate policy."

Read More