As Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the State Chair of the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP), I will help lead a coordinated effort to develop a Western Regional Climate Registry for greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The WRAP, an organization of 14 Western States focused on Western air quality issues, will create a partnership with the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR) to design a regional registry. The WRAP will also work to create a multi-region national registry Alliance with the CCAR, the Eastern Climate Registry and states in the Midwest currently considering a registry.
As a corollary to its work on a Western regional registry, the WRAP will also develop greenhouse gas emissions inventories and forecasts for WRAP member states.
Finally, ADEQ will implement two important parallel efforts that will assist in the development of a western regional registry:
(1) Southwest Climate Change Initiative: Comprises a joint effort between Arizona and New Mexico to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region, including creation of a registry; and
(2) Arizona-Sonora Climate Change Initiative between Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, to develop a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and forecast for Sonora and identify actions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Arizona-Sonora area, potentially including cross-border emissions trading and credits.
The WRAP began consideration of climate change issues at a meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, in May 2005. In August 2005, the WRAP held a two-day 'summit' on state action on climate change in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In December 2005, at a meeting in Palm Springs, California, the WRAP made a preliminary decision to investigate development of greenhouse gas emissions inventories and forecasts for interested WRAP member states and to consider the feasibility of a Western Regional Climate Registry. At its April 2006 meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, the WRAP formally approved a proposal to have the Center for Climate Strategies prepare the emissions inventories and forecasts, with funding to be provided by various private foundations. The WRAP also agreed to proceed with an effort to develop a regional climate registry. The WRAP formally initiated its investigation of the prospects for a Western Regional Climate Registry at a workshop in Denver, Colorado, on July 17-18, 2006. The workshop was attended by representatives of states, tribes, industry and NGOs, among others. Representatives of the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR), the Eastern Climate Registry (ECR) and Midwestern states also attended the workshop and made presentations on their efforts, including the possible creation of a national alliance linking the regional registries. Representatives of the WRAP attended a meeting on September 6, 2006, in San Francisco, California, with representatives of the CCAR, the ECR and the Midwestern to develop a strategy for further collaboration.
Relatedly, the Western Governors Association, of which the WRAP is a component, adopted a climate change resolution at its June 2006 annual meeting that supported the creation of a regional climate registry for Western States. Further, on September 8, 2006, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano issued an Executive Order that directed the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to work with Western States to establish a Western regional registry.
