The California Air Resources Board approved Thursday new cap-and-trade regulations which will limit the amount of greenhouse emissions that industrial refineries can produce while creating a market where businesses can buy the ability to emit more greenhouse gases from facilities that reduce their carbon emissions below state standards.

The decision makes California the only state to approve a state-administered cap-and-trade program. Proposals in Washington D.C. for a nationwide cap-and-trade model lost momentum last year after Senate Democrats abandoned their push for comprehensive energy reform.

Stanley Young, a spokesperson for the California Air Resource Board, said that California is ahead of the game with its passing of cap-and-trade.

“America will need to address climate change in the future,” he said, “and when it does it will look to California as a way of how to do that.”

Not all are happy with California’s new program. UPI carried scathing comments made by an affiliate of the California Chamber of Commerce accusing cap-and-trade of increasing the financial burden for recession-stricken consumers and businesses:

The California Chamber of Commerce declared the 10 percent cut in alliances "arbitrary" and said ARB's actions will drive up costs for consumers in California as business pass along the $2 billion the cap-and-trade plan is expected to generate.

California Chamber of Commerce Policy Advocate Brenda M. Coleman said, "CalChamber believes this is an illegal tax that will negatively impact businesses and consumers at a time when they can least afford it."

Young retorted such accusations, calling cap and trade a necessary step to secure economic success in the future and transition away from fossil fuels.

“Some industries that are based on the consumption of fossil fuels will not do well as we move through this transition,” he replied. “By contrast, industries that discover,invent, or move towards alterative supplies of energy and renewable sources of energy will do very well.”

When asked whether businesses were better off putting their resources towards complying with cap-and-trade rather than fighting the regulations, Young insisted that the “economic writing is on the wall” in regards to green investment.

“Anything a company can do to reduce its carbon footprint is smart business,” he continued.

According to a link on the Air Resources Board website, the cap-and-trade program will encompass 350 businesses and 600 facilities. The program starts in 2013, first encompassing industrial facilities and electric utilities before expanding to natural gas facilities in 2015.

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