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State joins coalition to reduce emissions
Wed Jan 16, 2008, 02:25 PM EST
The Senate has approved legislation that would secure the Commonwealth's current and future participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) by making the cooperative program law. Governor Deval Patrick signed the RGGI agreement last January, entering Massachusetts into a nine-state coalition plan starting in 2009 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from larger power plants in the New England and Mid-Atlantic region.
Under RGGI, participating states will stabilize carbon dioxide emissions at current levels from 2009 to 2015, and then proceed with a 10 percent reduction by 2019.
"Reducing carbon dioxide emission in Massachusetts has long been a priority of mine," said Senator Scott Brown (R-Wrentham). "Passing this legislation is an important step in RGGI's initiative towards improving our environment."
The RGGI agreement establishes a carbon dioxide "cap and trade" program to reduce emissions. This model sets a limit on total emissions from certain power plants and requires those plants to hold "allowances" to cover their emissions."
Allowances give the right to release one ton of carbon dioxide and allowed emissions will be divided into permits and assigned by each state to the power plants.
Plants without enough allowances to cover emissions can reduce their greenhouse gases, or buy allowances from other plants that have reduced their emissions and have excess allowances.
All sales will be completed through a regional market auction and proceeds will be deposited into the RGGI Auction Trust Fund.
