Nine Northeast States Pledge More Power Plant Emissions Cuts
By Editors of Power Engineering
Nine states in the northeast United States have announced a plan to cut power plant emissions by 30 percent from 2020 to 2030.
The plan is a result of negotiations between the states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, the Boston Globe reported.
The plan, which would use the existing cap-and-trade system for power plants to buy pollution permits at auctions, needs to be approved by each state. If approved, emissions would be reduced by 65 percent from 2009 levels by lowering the caps on carbon allowances.
“This is a very dramatic, significant carbon reduction,” said Katie Dykes, a public utilities regulator in Connecticut who serves as chair of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s board of directors.
New England power companies say the deal would have a big effect on consumer prices, as most of the area’s coal and oil plants have closed.
Though the states praised the plan, some participants resisted higher caps, including Maryland and Delaware, the Globe reported. Those states share a grid with coal-heavy states such as West Virginia and Kentucky, and officials worried the new standards would put them at a disadvantage with those states.
The Acadia Center has found RGGI states have reduced their emissions by 16 percent more than other states, the region’s economy grew 3.6 percent more than the rest of the country and energy prices fell by 3.4 percent, compared to a national rise of 7.2 percent
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