by Kerry Clines, Senior Editor

Air emissions: the bad, the ugly, and…the good?

During times of economic troubles, when most companies are struggling to stay afloat, air emissions rules and regulations are hitting from all sides.

Carbon Fees. The California Air Resources Board may level a statewide carbon fee on utilities, oil refineries, and other industries to pay for the California Global Warming Solutions Act, which seeks to reduce emissions in the state to 1990 levels by 2020.

According to MercuryNews.com, if the fee is approved, it would raise $51.2 million annually during the next three years to fund the bureaucracy needed to implement California’s 2006 global warming law. The total would drop to $36.2 million by the fifth year.

Industry groups say the proposal unfairly singles them out to pay for the law. “This small group is paying for the whole program,” Michaeleen Mason, director of regulatory issues at the Western States Petroleum Association, told the news agency. “It’s really not economy-wide. We need something more broad-based.”