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Global warming is an increasingly visible issue gaining political traction in New Mexico and the nation.

Gov. Bill Richardson has forged a bold new energy agenda that would help make New Mexico a national leader in tackling solutions to global warming.

During the 2007 legislative session, New Mexico's decision-makers took significant steps toward increasing New Mexico's development and use of clean, renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. Yet, until now, New Mexico has done little to address global warming emissions in the transportation sector.

The Clean Cars Program is a promising policy with strong support that would help save New Mexico consumers money, while drastically reducing the state's global warming and traditional air pollution from new vehicles sold in the state.

Among reasons New Mexico should adopt Clear Cars:

• Global warming is reaching a critical threshold, both in its effects and in public awareness.

• Scientists agree global warming is real; humans are the cause; and we must reduce our emissions beginning immediately and ramping up to 80 percent by midcentury if we are to avoid the worst effects of a warming planet.

• Rising temperatures are contributing to decreased snowpack and earlier snowmelt, reducing New Mexico's water supply.

• A warmer planet could lead to increased critical weather effects — such as drought, heat waves and forest fires.

NASA's chief climatologist, James Hansen, has said we must begin to reduce global warming pollution within 10 years or risk climate change that would result in "practically a different planet."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations agency charged with developing consensus on climate change, has come to similar conclusions.

And national polls show public opinion is catching up to the scientific consensus. Some local governments, businesses and faith groups are taking steps to help limit U.S. emissions of the pollutants that cause global warming.

The transportation sector is a major contributor to New Mexico's growing global warming emissions.

Cars and light trucks are the second largest source of carbon dioxide pollution in the state, making up nearly one-quarter of the state's emissions in 2000. Moreover, that same year, vehicles had the largest share of growth in New Mexico's direct carbon dioxide emissions, which are expected to soar by 52 percent during the next two decades.

Left unchecked, these emissions could substantially impact New Mexico's economy, including tourism, hot-air ballooning, skiing, agriculture and ranching.

However, the state could make a major difference by adopting the Clean Cars Program, initially started in California under special authority granted through the federal Clean Air Act. It has been adopted by 12 other states from Maine to Oregon.

Richardson announced the Clean Cars Program will be a priority for his 2008 energy and environment agenda, and New Mexicans should support it.

The program has two components:

• The Low-Emission Vehicle Program sets more stringent standards for conventional air pollutants, such as smog and soot. It encourages technological development by requiring major automakers to produce a certain number of advanced-technology vehicles, such as hybrids and clean, conventional cars.

• The Vehicle Global Warming Pollution Standards set fleetwide averages for global warming emissions from vehicles.

The program would put tens of thousands of advanced-technology cars, light trucks and SUVs on New Mexico's roads, while cutting volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide emissions by 5 percent and 11 percent, respectively. By 2016, it would reduce global warming pollution from cars by 34 percent and from light-duty trucks by 25 percent.

The New Mexico Environment Department's Environmental Improvement Board and Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board will be holding hearings Nov. 26-28 in Albuquerque to consider Clean Cars regulations.

New Mexico should be the next state to bring cleaner cars to its roads.