Top air regulators from 13 states across the western U.S. met in private last week to talk about how they could work together on carbon-emissions cuts proposed by the Obama administration. California Air Resources Board chairman Mary Nichols , Nevada Environmental Protection administrator Colleen Cripps and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality director Henry Darwin attended the July 17 meeting in Denver, spokesmen for their agencies said. The closed discussion was organized by Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy, led by former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to cut carbon-dioxide pollutants from power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 includes an incentive for states to develop regional carbon-trading systems. States that combine efforts can get an extra year, until 2018, to comply. “The meeting provided a forum for us to get a better understanding of how the proposal works,” said […]