Business groups mobilize to continue greenhouse-gas fight

Interests on both sides of the global-warming issue are taking their fight to the bureaucracy as the battle over the implementation of last year’s greenhouse-gas-emissions bill moves to the agency level.
As California begins treading new ground under AB 32, representatives of California business and industry have come together to organize a new coalition: the AB 32 Industry Implementation Group.
The group is the product of a collaboration between the California Chamber of Commerce, California Business Roundtable and California Manufacturers and Technology Association as well as Western States Petroleum Association and the California Independent Petroleum Association–all of which opposed the bill signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger earlier this year.
“The group is forming as we speak,” said CMTA vice president Dorothy Rothrock. “The coalition was formed for the purpose of providing a singular voice for business and industry to protect their interests as the regulations of AB 32 are implemented, but an organizational structure has yet to be established.”
The legislation, which was authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian N