Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or ReGGIe) is a regional initiative by states in the Northeastern United States region to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The RGGI is designing a cap and trade program for emissions from power plants. In August 2005, the RGGI staff working group proposed an emissions reduction program that would start in 2009 and lead to a stabilization of emissions at current levels (an average of 2002-2004 levels) by 2015. This would be followed by a 10% reduction in emissions between 2015 and 2020. The proposal would also allow participants to purchase offsets to meet 50% of their emission reductions.

As of December 20, 2005, seven Northeastern US states are involved in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Massachusetts and Rhode Island dropped out at the last minute. It is believed that the state-level program will apply pressure on the federal government to support Kyoto Protocol.

Participating states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware.
Observer states and regions: Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Eastern Canadian Provinces.

A parallel effort to reduce emissions in the Northeast is the New England Governors/Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Change Action Plan, which calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. On December 20, 2005 seven states, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" committing themselves to move forward with the program. Special provisions are made in that document for Massachusetts and Rhode Island to join the effort at any time prior to January 1, 2008.

In May 2006, the Massachusetts Senate Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture approved a bill that if passed would require the state to join the pact, overriding the earlier decision by governor Mitt Romney.^[1] Although "only the governor can officially bring Massachusetts into the RGGI compact," the bill will force the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) comply with RGGI’s standards.^[2]

In addition, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) is building a Regional Greenhouse Gas Registry (RGGR) to help track emissions in the region. This effort is similar to the California Climate Action Registry.

[edit] References

^ "Senate committee has state joining Greenhouse pact" by Laura Dannen, ldannen@metro-boston.com. Metro (Boston edition), 4 May 2006, p. 2.
^ Paul McMorrow. Sky to Get Less Poisonous. Weely Dig, May 2006. [1]