US states bypass Bush to tackle greenhouse gas emissions

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" Zepp " <zepp

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 18:46:19 -0700

US states bypass Bush to tackle greenhouse gas emissions

 

 

 

 

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1555945,00.html>

 

US states bypass Bush to tackle greenhouse gas emissions

 

Julian Borger in Washington

Thursday August 25, 2005

The Guardian

 

America's north-eastern states are on the brink of a declaration of

environmental independence with the introduction of mandatory controls

on greenhouse gas emissions of the kind rejected by the Bush

administration.

 

In the first regional agreement of its kind in the US, nine states are

expected to announce a plan next month to freeze carbon dioxide

emissions from big power stations by 2009 and then reduce them by 10% by

2020.

 

The region stretches from New Jersey to Maine and generates roughly the

same volume of emissions as Germany.

 

Article continues

Pennsylvania and Maryland have signed on as observers to the regional

initiative and are considering joining it at a later date.

 

On the other side of the continent, California, Oregon, Washington, New

Mexico and Arizona are exploring similar agreements, representing a

clear break between state governments and Washington over global warming.

 

The outline of the north-eastern states' draft agreement was published

yesterday in the New York Times, and its main features were confirmed by

Dale Bryk, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defence Council, who has

been monitoring progress of the regional initiative. The 2009 freeze and

the 10% reduction by 2020 were " a done deal " , Ms Bryk said. " They plan

to have a memorandum of understanding by the end of September. "

 

She added: " It's huge. It's a drumbeat, and more and more states and

regions are heading down this road. It's going to change the discussion

at the federal level ... It's going to take the argument off the table

[that] we can't do this because it's too expensive, there are too many

obstacles. "

 

The Bush administration withdrew from the Kyoto protocol on climate

change in 2001, and restated its opposition at the G8 summit at

Gleneagles in July, arguing that its mandatory emissions targets would

devastate the US economy.

 

In July, Washington signed a separate pact with Australia, Japan, China,

India and South Korea, which did not fix emissions targets but instead

set out to encourage the private sector of green technologies and their

transfer to industrialising countries.

 

" We welcome all efforts to help meet the president's goal for reducing

greenhouse gas intensity by investing in new, more efficient

technologies, " Michele St Martin, a spokeswoman for the White House

Council on Environmental Quality, told the Guardian.

 

" We believe it is a better approach than regulatory mandates that would

increase already high energy bills for consumers, put people out of work

or achieve reductions simply by buying more energy from, and shifting

emissions to, other states and other countries. "

 

The American response to global warming has split the Republican party.

Two powerful Republican state governors, Arnold Schwarzenegger in

California and George Pataki in New York, have played leading roles in

the regional initiatives.

 

Andrew Rush, Mr Pataki's spokesman, said yesterday he could not comment

on the nine-state agreement as it was still in draft form. But he added:

" I know we've made a lot of progress and we're still working hard on it. "

 

The regional greenhouse gas initiative, as the north-eastern plan is

titled, will allow for emissions trading, so that power stations in one

state with lower emissions than their mandatory ceiling could sell the

rest of their allowance in other states. The same system, pioneered in

sulphur dioxide control in the US, is currently being used to curb

greenhouse gases in Europe.

 

The north-eastern pact is less ambitious than the Kyoto accord, which

freezes emissions at the 1990 level and imposes a 7% reduction by 2012.

 

The plan will initially only apply to power stations with an output of

more than 25 megawatts, of which there are about 600 across the region,

but it could later be extended to large manufacturing plants. The states

are New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire,

Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and Delaware. Some states will need to

ratify the agreement in their state legislatures, but that is not

expected to be a significant obstacle.

 

The scheme is expected initially to raise energy prices in the states

involved.

 

In a separate initiative, the mayors of more than 130 cities, including

New York and Los Angeles, agreed earlier this year to meet the emissions

reductions envisaged in the Kyoto accord, independent of federal policy

decided in Washington.

 

 

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