Crist optimistic about Fla. auto emissions plan

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Charlie Crist remained optimistic Tuesday about a proposal to reduce emissions from new vehicles sold in Florida after a fresh legislative setback.

The Legislature's Joint Administrative Procedures Committee voted a day earlier to accept a staff report critical of the proposal. It says adopting California's emission standards as proposed by Crist and the Department of Environmental Protection would be unconstitutional because it would give authority to that state to make decisions Florida would have no choice but to accept.

"That sounds like a little over-thinking to me," Crist said after touring a conservation center with CNN founder and philanthropist Ted Turner and his son, Beau Turner, about 30 miles east of Tallahassee.

The report also concluded the California rule, which is opposed by automakers, is too vague.

"I don't think there's much of a problem with it," Crist said. "I think we just need to control our emissions and make sure that we're protecting the air."

The committee's action did not kill the DEP rule, which requires Legislative approval. Eleven other states besides California already have agreed to adopt the California rule, and it's a key part of Crist's climate change initiative.

Crist said Florida needs to do its part to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming in part because the state's low-lying coastal areas could be inundated by rising ocean levels that could result from higher temperatures.

Lawmakers also will consider a second major element after they convene in regular session March. 3. It's a Public Service Commission rule that would require investor-owned power companies to generate at least 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Crist saw one of those renewable sources in action at the Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center, which operates entirely on solar power.

That includes a machine used to launch bright, orange clay targets about the size of a saucer for skeet shooting. The launcher never failed as Crist tried out his shotgun marksmanship. The governor, though, missed ten times before finally shattering a clay pigeon.

The center was created in partnership with the state on 160 acres donated by Beau Turner to preserve ethical hunting traditions and conservation by introducing youth to shooting sports and the outdoors.

"It's so important that we get young people to appreciate the outdoors and not watch TV all the time," Ted Turner said.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)