WHEREAS the BC Government has not disclosed plans for a regional system to trade greenhouse gas emissions with the States of New Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington; AND WHEREAS the trading system has implications for the economies of our communities, and the public and businesses, for the most part, have been excluded from consultation and submissions to the cabinet committee on climate change: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, urge the Cabinet Committee On Climate Change to enter into consultations on the direction taken by the Province on carbon credit trading and its implications to the economies of the communities affected.
Climate Action Secretariat, Office of the Premier Throughout the Western Climate Initiative WCI cap and trade design process, there have been many opportunities and methods for stakeholder input on a regional level, including B.C. communities. The recommendations reached throughout the process have benefited greatly from stakeholder input. The regional stakeholder process includes a number of important avenues for the sharing of information and input. Among them: The Website: The WCI website has served as a repository for information on the design effort. The website includes information on upcoming stakeholder calls and workshops, and also provides a way to submit comments to the WCI Partner jurisdictions. Stakeholder Teleconference and Webinars: Over the course of the design effort, the WCI Partner jurisdictions have held eighteen regional stakeholder conference calls to update stakeholders on progress toward a cap-and-trade design and to answer stakeholder questions since August 2007. Stakeholder Workshops: To date, three regional stakeholder workshops have been held to allow face-to-face interaction between stakeholders and WCI Partner jurisdictions and staff. These workshops included subcommittee-specific sessions to explore the subject areas within each subcommittees purview. The workshops are noted in the table below. There was also a regional stakeholder meeting for offsets in Vancouver. All workshops used webinar technology to allow those unable to physically attend to participate via teleconference and internet. Stakeholder Workshop in Portland, Oregon to discuss major options under consideration January 10, 2008 Offsets Workshop in Vancouver, B.C. March 26, 2008 Stakeholder Workshop in Salt Lake City to discuss draft subcommittee recommendations May 21, 2008 Stakeholder Workshop in San Diego to Discuss Draft Design Recommendations July 29, 2008 Review and Comment in Writing: At regular intervals throughout the process, the WCI Partner jurisdictions and the subcommittees have released written work for review and comment by stakeholders. Subcommittee Options Papers released for public review and comment Early January 2008 Initial Draft Scope Recommendations and Electricity Point of Regulation Recommendations released for public review and comment February 3, 2008 Scope of Work for Economic Analysis released for public review and comment March 3, 2008 Scope and Electricity initial Draft Design Recommendations released for public review and comment March 5, 2008 Offsets, Allocations, and Reporting initial Draft Design Recommendations released for public review and comment for April 3, 2008 Consolidated WCI Draft Recommendations released for public review and comment May 16, 2008 Draft Program Design Recommendations released for public review and comment July 23, 2008 Final Design Recommendations delivered to Governors and Premiers September, 2008, available on the WCI website: http:westernclimateinitiative.org Future Opportunities for Input: As part of an ongoing stakeholder involvement process, the WCI released its recommendations for the Regional Cap and Trade Program in late September 2008. The design recommendations will then be revised and updated based on public feedback, economic modeling, and additional design development by the Partners. All WCI Partners will also be developing their own regulatory framework to enable the cap and trade system. B.C. will implement the cap and trade system through regulations under the Cap and Trade Act, for which thorough public consultation will take place. We support and encourage British Columbia communities to participate in both the WCI stakeholder process as well as regulatory consultation for the Cap and Trade Act.