Scientific consensus is clear that the long-term affects of global warming are mounting. Polar ice melt, catastrophic hurricanes and sea level rise are all among the signs that the impending negative effects of global warming are multifold, threatening our economy and environment. The effects are being felt locally, as new hurricane models are predicting increasingly severe storms for the Cape and more homeowners' insurance companies are dropping coverage.
It is increasingly apparent that now is the time for action to address global warming; however, leadership from Washington is absent. In response, two years ago, governors from nine Northeastern states, including Massachusetts, began negotiating a regional strategy for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is the result of these efforts.
The governors of New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware and Maryland have all signed a landmark agreement to set ground rules to enter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Noticeably absent from the signing was Massachusetts. After Massachusetts agency staff spent over two years helping to design the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Governor Romney at the last minute, perhaps influenced by other political concerns, refused to sign the pact. As of today, eight Northeast and Mid-Atlantic governors have signed the agreement that will control carbon dioxide emissions by utilizing a cap-and-trade system.
In the face of Governor Romney's inaction, I have joined with other Massachusetts legislators to file legislation that would sign Massachusetts onto the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The legislation, Senate Bill 2475 "An Act to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emission through Participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative" had its public hearing on April 13, 2006, in front of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Corporations, energy providers and environmental advocacy groups joined together to express support for the regional initiative and the companion legislation.
With the passage of this legislation, the legislature has the opportunity to overcome the Governor's misguided decision and join a landmark regional pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The plan adopts a market-based approach that would cap and trade carbon dioxide emissions. Power plants that emit more carbon dioxide under the set limits could then buy credits from cleaner plants. Most global warming pollution from electricity generation in the Northeast comes from a handful of power plants, cleaning up their emissions will significantly reduce the Northeast's contribution to global warming.
The initiative begins limiting emissions in 2009, with the goal of reducing emissions by 10 percent before 2019. Each state sets limits on pollutant emissions and then issues permits, with generating firms allowed to sell permits to each other. Each participating state will charge electricity generators for at least 25 percent of their permits, with the option of disseminating the remaining 75 percent at their discretion. The money collected from the permits must be used for consumer benefit or strategic energy purposes.
Additionally, generating firms are allowed to use offsets as an alternative manner of reducing greenhouse gas emission, instead of cutting emissions at the Massachusetts power plant. Up to 3.3 percent of emissions reductions may be credited by offsets from anywhere else in the United States.
Opponents of the measure, including Governor Romney, have cited increased energy costs as their major concern. However, a study conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources estimated long-term savings for residential consumers if Massachusetts joins the pact. Direct investments in energy efficiency and clean energy will benefit consumers by minimizing any price impacts of the program; in fact, using the money collected from the permits for energy efficiency may end up decreasing costs for residential customers.
Ultimately, these standards should be adopted at the federal level, so the whole country can reap the benefits of less pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. The effort to enact these standards in the Northeast is, in part, a response to the failure at the federal level to pass nationwide carbon emission limits or join the international Kyoto Protocol. However, experience shows that federal standards are only established after states take the lead.
Passage of this legislation will enable Massachusetts to join the critical first step in developing a national policy on climate change. Now is the time for action. We need to continue our advocacy to ensure that Beacon Hill understands the pressing need for emission reductions.
The failure to enact timely standards at the federal level has left it to the states to take leadership to encourage greenhouse gas reduction. While a number of states have acknowledged this obligation, Massachusetts is being left behind. It is time for Massachusetts to join its Northeastern neighbors and take control of its escalating carbon dioxide emissions by enacting this important emission agreement.
landmark regional pact