California May Tax Corporate Emissions

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is proposing to charge businesses an annual fee based on their CO2 emissions, Mercury News reports. This would be the first such program in California, and would charge 4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted. The program would affect all types of businesses, large and small.

The largest fee would be paid by The Shell oil refinery in Martinez, $186,475 a year for its 4.4 million annual metric tons of emissions.

The air district board could take a final vote on this rule by May, meaning businesses looking to avoid the fees should focus on measures to reduce their CO2 emissions immediately.

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