The California Air Resources Board on Dec. 11 voted to adopt the nation’s first comprehensive state global warming plan. The goal: reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The “scoping plan” implements the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act. The measure is intended as a blueprint for achieving target emission reductions. The plan takes a multi-pronged approach to cutting state greenhouse gases. There are provisions to create more energy efficiency in buildings, more reliance on renewable energy sources, statewide standards for capturing methane at landfills and more efficiency in the state’s water system. According to Patrick Sullivan, senior vice president of Long Beach-based SCS Engineers, an environmental firm, significant details of the plan need to be worked out. Asked for specifics, he wonders how the cap-and- trade program will work and which industries could be exempted. Kent Peterson, chief engineer with P2S Engineering in Long Beach, sees a silver lining, however. “I can’t overestimate how much opportunity there is for engineering and contracting firms in California,” he says.