States Filling in for Feds on Emission Regulations

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Aug 25, 2005 - Picking up where the federal government left off after the Bush administration refused to sign an international accord aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, a number of states are moving toward enacting regional caps on emissions from power plants and automobiles.

Nine states in the Northeast and three in the Pacific Northwest are working on plans to cut back on pollutants most scientific specialists believe are responsible for global climate change.

The proposed actions would bring the regions in line with – or possibly top the efforts of – the Kyoto Protocol, a multinational plan developed in 1997 to reduce carbon-dioxide and other pollutants. The protocol, which has been ratified by 153 nations, not including the US, went into effect on February 16.

A draft of the Northeastern states’ plan, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, is circulating among various environmental groups and companies. Each of the nine participating states – New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island – will have to approve the final version of the RGGI. The initiative began in 2003 at the behest of New York Governor George Pataki, a Republican.

The same year, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington created the West Coast Global Warming Initiative. In November, the governors approved of the final measures, calling for sustainable energy codes for buildings by 2015 and initiating plans to develop emission reduction goals, according to a statement by Governor Ted Kulonski of Oregon.

State-driven efforts to lessen greenhouse gas emissions may not be enough to abate the problem, OMB Watch, a government watchdog said in a statement Monday. The group noted that state-level regulations are often applied and enforced unevenly.

At the June Conference of Mayors, the executives of 168 cities from 37 states signed a pledge committing their cities to the goals of the Kyoto Protocol.