Environmental justice group sues California over carbon market overhaul

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Set us as preferred An environmental justice group is suing California’s top air regulator over its sweeping overhaul of the state’s cap-and-invest carbon market program, claiming it illegally rushed a last-minute incentive for industrial polluters.The lawsuit from the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment alleges that the California Air Resources Board bypassed required environmental reviews when it approved a major update to the cap-and-invest program at the end of May.

CARB violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it failed to meaningfully analyze the effects of the changes, according to the lawsuit, filed July 1 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.It marks the first major lawsuit against the state’s signature program since legislators agreed last year to extend its life beyond the original 2030 expiration date to 2045.Cap-and-invest requires large polluters such as power plants, oil refineries and other industrial facilities to purchase credits, or allowances, for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit, and lets them buy or sell their unused allowances at quarterly auctions.

Each year fewer credits are created, lowering the total annual climate pollution in the state.Climate & Environment The updated cap-and-invest program determines how aggressively the state will curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and how billions of dollars in revenue will flow.The update approved in May will remove 118 million allowances from the market by 2030, and 900 million after 2030, which officials say will keep California on its path to carbon neutrality by 2045.

But the air board also introduced a big change about six weeks ahead of the vote.The program will now include a new mechanism, the manufacturing decarbonization incentive, that allows polluters to apply for and receive up to 118 million new ...