26:2C-38 - Findings, declarations relative to greenhouse gas emissions
26:2C-38 Findings, declarations relative to greenhouse gas emissions.
2. The Legislature finds and declares that internationally the issue of global warming has caused alarm, awareness, and action concerning climate changes occurring around the globe attributed to the high level of certain gases called "greenhouse gases" - gases that increase temperatures in the atmosphere and the risk of catastrophic changes to the Earth's ecosystems and environment; that, while this global warming may be a theory to some, the effects of increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are accepted by many respected scientists and members of the international community as seriously detrimental to the ecosystems and environment of the world; that, ultimately, if steps are not taken to reverse these trends, the effects on human, animal and plant life on Earth may be catastrophic; that solutions exist to halt the increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and reduce these emissions; that, as a global issue, each country and region within a country must do its part to reduce these greenhouse gases that threaten the globe; and that, as a State, there are specific actions that can be taken to attack the problem of global warming, through reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the State and participation in regional and interstate initiatives to reduce these emissions regionally, nationally, and internationally.
The Legislature therefore finds and declares that it is in the public interest to establish a greenhouse gas emissions reduction program to limit the level of Statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generated outside the State but consumed in the State, to the 1990 level or below, of those emissions by the year 2020, and to reduce those emissions to 80% below the 2006 level by the year 2050.
L.2007, c.112, s.2.