President Michael R. Peevey is the Assigned Commissioner in this proceeding, and Charlotte F. TerKeurst and Jonathan Lakritz are the assigned Administrative Law Judges in Phase 2 of this proceeding.
1. Some purchases of electricity cannot be traced to a specific generation source.
2. To attribute emissions to California retail providers for purchases of electricity that cannot be traced to a specific generation source, ARB will need to establish emission factors.
3. A uniform regional default emission factor for purchases from unspecified sources would minimize the potential gaming and arbitrage among regions.
4. A provision whereby ARB may certify supplier-specific emission factors and the setting of a conservative regional default emission factor would help accomplish the goals of AB 32 by encouraging market participants to obtain their power from specified sources.
5. A regional tracking system for the electricity sector is needed for an expandable GHG regulatory system because so much power is bought and sold across state lines in the highly interconnected Western electricity market.
6. The Protocol in Attachment A is a reasonable rule for reporting and tracking GHG emissions from the electricity sector.
7. In some situations, to ensure that only real GHG reductions are calculated for power transactions reported by California retail providers, ARB may need to attribute emissions to purchases or sales of power by California retail providers that are different than the GHG emissions that occur from the source specified in the contract.
8. The public interest in the Public Utilities Commission adopting a decision on reporting and verification of GHG emissions in the electricity sector before expiration of the 30-day review and comment period clearly outweighs the public interest in having the full 30-day period for review and comment.
1. Under AB 32, ARB has the authority to adopt conditions that would prevent the attribution to retail providers of GHG emission reductions that are not real.
2. AB 32 governs statewide GHG emissions, including electricity consumed in California (including imports) and in-state generation that is exported out of California.
Therefore, IT IS ORDERED that the California Public Utilities Commission recommends that the California Air Resources Board adopt the Proposed Electricity Sector Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Verification Protocol contained in Attachment A to this order.
This order is effective today.
Dated September 6, 2007, at San Francisco, California.
MICHAEL R. PEEVEY
President
DIAN M. GRUENEICH
JOHN A. BOHN
RACHELLE B. CHONG
TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON
Commissioners
I will file a concurrence.
/s/ JOHN A. BOHN
Commissioner
I will file a concurrence.
/s/ RACHELLE B. CHONG
Commissioner
I reserve the right to file a concurrence or join a concurrence.
/s/ DIAN M. GRUENEICH
Commissioner