Capping the greenhouse
FOR MORE than two years, the Romney administration led a regional initiative to put limits on the greenhouse gas emissions of the area's electric power producers. But just as the other states were coming to an agreement on this mini-Kyoto late last year, Governor Mitt Romney decided to pull out. Now a group of environmentally minded legislators is backing a bill that would re-enlist Massachusetts in this effort by other Northeast states to slow the pace of global warming.
The agreement, which seven states accepted , would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generators 10 percent by 2020. It would use a market-based mechanism that should appeal to Romney's entrepreneurial spirit. A cap would be placed on all the emissions the industry could produce, and power producers could buy and sell among themselves allowances to emit more than any single firm is permitted.
The effect is to put a premium on producers finding ways through renewable energy or other means to generate electricity while emitting less carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. Romney balked when the states in the initiative refused to place a lid on the value of the tradable allowances. The other states feared a lid would cramp the market's ability to force gains in carbon-reduced power generation. While Romney worried about the plan increasing utility rates, his own Division of Energy Resources did a study showing that it could reduce rates if money produced by allowance sales is invested in renewable energy and conservation.
Critics of the regional plan have a point when they argue that its overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be a tiny fraction of the US total. But the regional initiative sets a precedent in demonstrating that Americans can take political action on global warming, even while Congress and the Bush administration prefer to hope the problem will just go away. An additional advantage of the regional initiative is that it could spur Northeast companies to become worldwide leaders in devising ways to develop renewable sources of power or to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in plants that use fossil fuels, especially coal.
Sponsors of the bill that would put Massachusetts into the initiative include Senators Pamela Resor of Acton and Robert O'Leary of Barnstable and Representative Frank Smizik of Brookline. The measure deserves veto-proof majorities to overcome a possible veto by Romney. He, by the way, should be reminded that not all Republicans considering runs for the White House oppose curbs on carbon emissions. Senator John McCain, the leader in GOP polls, has long backed a national version of the regional initiative.
