SACRAMENTO — The state of California has signed off on legislation to clamp down on greenhouse-gas emissions including black carbon from diesel trucks, and methane gas from cow flatulence.
On September 19, California Governor Jerry Brown announced new bills to restrict environmental pollutants damaging to the air we breathe. Under the new laws, carbon emissions stemming from diesel trucks will be reduced by 50 percent. Dairy farmers have been instructed to reduce methane emissions from the state’s 5.15 million cows by 40 percent by the year 2030.
Farmers will receive funding from the state to invest in methane digesters, to convert the pollutants from manure into energy to be sold to electrical utilities.