LOS ANGELES - An advisory panel appointed by California's governor urged the state on Thursday to impose a new tax on gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products to fund efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Any such surcharge would have to be passed by the state legislature. But the blue-ribbon panel's recommendation once again sets the nation's most populous state apart from the Bush administration on a key environmental issue.
The report by the Climate Action Team, a 15-member panel appointed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is not binding and does not say how much the fee would cost individuals or businesses.
The "public goods" fee would be similar to a surcharge already folded into California electricity bills.
The surcharge on petroleum products "would provide funding for key strategies that will reduce climate change emissions and reduce the dependence on petroleum," the 109-page report released on Thursday said.
Greenhouse gases have been linked to global warming.
The draft report - another version is due in late January - is an outline toward meeting the state's ambitious goals to cut polluting greenhouse gases announced five months ago.
The California targets call for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases to 2000 levels by 2010, or by 11 percent, to 1990 levels by 2020, or by 25 percent, and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
