Cutting global warming emissions from power plants
Environment New Hampshire is building support in the Legislature for a bill that would allow New Hampshire to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional program to cap global warming pollution from power plants.
RGGI would cut pollution from power plants across much of the Northeast 10 percent by 2019, and Environment New Hampshire is working to ensure that the bill authorizing the state’s participation prioritizes both achieving these reductions and utilizing revenue generated by the program to fund energy efficiency and conservation programs.
“We are already seeing the impacts of global warming in New Hampshire, and it is increasingly clear that we need swift action to solve this problem,” said Environment New Hampshire Advocate Erika Staaf.
Scientists expect global warming to cause rising sea levels, more extreme weather, more expensive storm damage and more heat waves, along with a host of other environmental problems.
“Climate experts are recommending that we cut global warming pollution 75 to 85 percent by the middle of the century if we hope to avoid the worst impacts of global warming,” added Staaf. “This regional agreement is one solution we can put in place now to get on the path toward a climate-friendly future.”
Building on our prior work
In 2005, Gov. Lynch signed a Memorandum of Understanding, joining nine other Northeast states in the cooperative agreement to cut the region’s global warming pollution. But in order for New Hampshire to join the program in time—by 2009—state legislators need to approve the program this spring.
RGGI would utilize a “cap-and-trade” system, meaning that New Hampshire would set limits on emissions and then issue permits equal to the tons of carbon dioxide allowed under the cap. Power generators would then be allowed to buy permits from each another.
Environment New Hampshire is advocating a requirement that utilities pay for initial permits based on the amount of global warming pollution that they emit, rather than giving away permits to utilities based on the amount they already pollute. We are also advocating that the money generated by the program goes to fund energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy programs that reduce the overall emissions generated by power plants.
To guide the process, Environment New Hampshire staff have been participating in stakeholder meetings led by the Department of Environmental Services and attended by state conservation groups, legislators, utilities and climate experts.
“By joining RGGI, we’ll be taking action here at the state level to cut our greenhouse gas emissions and paving the way for future efforts to control global warming pollution at the federal level,” said Staaf.
