California cap-and-trade program gets a shot in the arm with strong permit auction results
By Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times.
A month after a bruising political battle to extend California’s cap-and-trade program, the state received a big vote of confidence in the policy’s future.
Cap and trade requires oil refineries, food processors and other facilities to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, and state regulators auction off the permits several times a year.
During August’s auction, every emission permit offered by the state was sold, and prices reached their highest level since the program launched five years ago.
The auction results, announced Tuesday, were the first since Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation continuing cap and trade until 2030, erasing some of the political and legal uncertainty that had dogged the program.