Giant SoCal water agency says global warming law will cost it $10 million to $50 million a year

15 hours ago  •  By BRADLEY J. FIKES bfikes@nctimes.com

Southern California's biggest water wholesaler says it faces an extra $10 million to $50 million in annual expenses to comply with California's global warming law.

Those costs will flow down to ratepayers already stressed by steeply rising bills, said the giant Metropolitan Water District, importer of most of the water used in Southern California.

To forestall this increase, Metropolitan is asking for an exemption from the "cap-and-trade" greenhouse emissions requirements of Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, said Jeff Kightlinger, Metropolitan's general manager.

A bill to exempt Metropolitan is scheduled to be heard  at 1:30 p.m. Monday, by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee at the state Capitol. Senate Bill 1535 is sponsored by State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima. The bill specifies that publicly owned water utilities do not have to take part in cap-and-trade.

As matters now stand, Metropolitan will need to buy emissions allowances as an electricity marketer, Kightlinger said. The California Air Resources Board, which administers the global warming law, decided that Metropolitan must follow the cap-and-trade provision because it buys out-of-state electricity.

"Metropolitan occasionally has to import power to move our water off the Colorado River, and the only way we can get that power is through a connection that moves in the power from Nevada and Arizona," Kightlinger said.

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