Scoping Plan. The California Air Resources Board ("CARB") will consider updates to its Scoping Plan at the Board's monthly meeting scheduled for May 22 and May 23, 2014. The current Scoping Plan outlines the measures California will take to meet the 2020 emissions reduction target established by Assembly Bill 32 ("AB 32"). The update evaluates the progress California has made in meeting this target and outlines additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions beyond 2020. The Board also will consider the environmental analysis prepared for the update, and staff's written responses to comments on the analysis. The deadline for submitting comments on the environmental analysis and proposed update was April 28, 2014.

Cap-and-Trade Regulations. CARB considered amendments to the state's cap-and-trade program at its meeting on April 24 and April 25, 2014. The amendments are staff's responses to the Board's direction to modify amendments that were proposed on September 4, 2013. The amendments fine-tune the regulations but also make substantive changes on such topics as legacy contracts and disposition of allowances. The Board certified the environmental analysis, adopted Findings and a Statement of Overriding Considerations, approved staff's responses to comments, and adopted amendments to the cap-and-trade regulations. It also directed staff to finalize the Statement of Reasons and to submit the completed rulemaking package to California's Office of Administrative Law.

Approved Offset Projects. Offset credits can be used to satisfy up to eight percent of a covered source's compliance obligations under the cap-and-trade regulations. One way to generate offset credits is through early action projects, which are projects that have been issued offset credits by an approved early action offset program based upon GHG reductions that occurred between 2005 and 2014. On April 2, CARB released a list of recognized early action offset projects that includes 30 projects under a livestock protocol, 30 projects under an ozone protocol, and 20 projects under a forest protocol. CARB must approve the offset credits issued by an early action offset program before the credits can be used to satisfy cap-and-trade requirements.

Offset credits can also be generated by offset projects registered with a CARB-approved offset project registry using a compliance offset protocol that has been promulgated by CARB. As with early action offset credits, offset registry credits must be approved by CARB before they can be used to meet cap-and-trade compliance obligations. On April 9, 2014, CARB announced its approval of the first forestry offset project under CARB's forestry offset protocol. The project is operated by the Yurok Tribe and is located in Humboldt County, California.

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