STATE GLOBAL WARMING LAW—New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signs into law the nation’s strongest state global warming law to date. The law calls for 80 percent reductions in emissions by 2050.

As we predicted, the summer of 2007 proved to be an important one for global warming legislation. While the White House and Congress took baby steps toward addressing the problem, campaigns at the state level took off, resulting in strong steps toward reducing global warming pollution.

NJ: Strongest Law Yet
On the eve of the July 7 Live Earth concerts, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was joined by former Vice President Al Gore at the Meadowlands concert venue for the signing of legislation adopting proactive and ambitious goals for the reduction of that state’s global warming pollution.

“In the absence of leadership on the federal level, the burden of reducing greenhouse gases has now fallen upon the states,” said Gov. Corzine. “I’m proud that New Jersey is one of the first among a handful of states that are leading the nation to combat global warming, and I hope more states will follow in our model.”

The New Jersey bill calls for reducing the state’s global warming pollution to 1990 levels by 2020, approximately a 20 percent reduction, followed by a further reduction of emissions to 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050. New Jersey is only the third state in the nation to make global warming pollution reduction goals law.

“We owe it to our children and grandchildren to think big and tackle global warming head-on,” said New Jersey Global Warming and Clean Energy Advocate Suzanne Leta Liou.

New Jersey joins California and Hawaii in passing comprehensive bills with mandatory limits on statewide emissions. Seven other states are debating similar bills which could pass by this time next year.

And, Gov. Crist of Florida recently became the latest addition to the growing list of state leaders committing to emission reductions of 80 percent by mid-century.

Research: Record-Hot Years
In July, U.S. PIRG released a new report, “Feeling the Heat,” showing how last summer’s heat wave and recent erratic weather patterns are indicative of the challenges the U.S. faces with continued global warming.

To examine recent temperature patterns in the United States, U.S. PIRG researchers compared local temperature data from 2000 to 2006 with temperatures averaged over the 30 years 1971-2000.

Nationally, the average temperature in 2006 was at least 0.5°F above normal at 87 percent of the locations studied. According to the National Climatic Data Center, the 2006 summer and 2006 overall were the second warmest on record for the contiguous United States.

This year is on track to be the second warmest year on record globally.

In Washington, D.C., and across the country, U.S. PIRG continued to build support in Congress for strong science-based legislation to curb global warming.

The Safe Climate Act (H.R. 1590), introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (S. 309), introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.), would limit global warming pollution to levels that science says are needed to prevent the worst effects of global warming.

The bills would freeze total U.S. global warming emissions in 2010 and reduce emissions by about 15 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. By the end of the summer, the bill had 140 co-sponsors in the House; the Senate bill now has 20 co-sponsors.

“The science demands ambitious goals, and meeting these goals won’t be easy, but they are the minimum acceptable response to the threat posed by global warming,” said Federal Global Warming Program Director Emily Figdor. The House and Senate are expected to consider global warming legislation this fall.