RGGI

=proxy for blue northeast?primary 1019 on reboot/expand penn NJ1/20 bak TCI<div>no lnx doc</div><div>
</div><div>EPA Union Urges Virginia Lawmakers To Reject Trump’s Former EPA Chief</div><div>Gov. Glenn Youngkin has tapped Trump lackey Andrew Wheeler for the state's top environmental post. Agency staff say it would devastate the commonwealth.</div><div>Chris D'Angelo</div><div>By </div><div>Chris D'Angelo</div><div>01/20/2022 03:25pm EST | Updated January 20, 2022</div><div>
</div><div>Andrew Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist who served as President Donald Trump's second EPA chief. Employees described his tenure as "demoralizing." Now, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has nominated him for the state's top environmental post.</div><div>
</div><div>Federal employees at the Environmental Protection Agency are fighting to keep Andrew Wheeler, Donald Trump’s controversial second head of the Environmental Protection Agency and a former coal lobbyist, from becoming Virginia’s top environmental official.</div><div>
</div><div>Earlier this month, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) announced Wheeler as his pick to serve as secretary of natural resources. The choice outraged state Democrats and environmental groups, who described Wheeler as “the absolute worst pick” for the post.</div><div>
</div><div>AFGE Council 238, a union that represents more than 7,500 EPA employees nationwide, has joined the effort to block Wheeler’s nomination. In a letter to Virginia state senators on Thursday, Marie Owens Powell, the union’s president and a longtime EPA employee, wrote that Wheeler “destroyed or weakened dozens of environmental safeguards at EPA, with the sole intention of bolstering polluting industries’ profit margins.”</div><div>
</div><div>They warned that Virginia could expect the same of him.</div><div>
</div><div>“There are few who understand more acutely the threat Mr. Wheeler poses to [the Virginia Department of Natural and Historic Resources] and the natural environment that Virginians cherish than those of us who saw first-hand the impact of Mr. Wheeler’s misguided leadership at the EPA,” the letter reads.</div><div>
</div><div>Public backlash to Youngkin’s nominee sets the stage for what is likely to be a contentious confirmation process. Democrats maintain a 21-19 majority in Virginia’s state Senate. As The Hill reported, two key moderate Democrats have signaled that they are unlikely to support Wheeler for the job.</div><div>
</div><div>Wheeler served as the EPA’s deputy administrator before taking over for his scandal-plagued predecessor, Scott Pruitt, in 2019. Wheeler helped spearhead the Trump administration’s industry-friendly agenda, dismantling numerous pollution rules and other clean air and water safeguards to the benefit of the extractive industries that he once represented as a lobbyist. Along the way, he repeatedly downplayed the threat of global climate change and sidelined scientific advisory committees.</div><div>
</div><div>Owens Powell, who has been with the EPA for nearly three decades and works as an underground storage tank inspector in its Philadelphia office, said the work environment at the federal agency during Wheeler’s tenure was “extremely hostile.”</div><div>
</div><div>“The simple rejection of scientific principles was just so demoralizing to our staff,” she said.</div><div>
</div><div>“It’s mind-boggling how I have to see him again, at my back door this time.”</div><div>
</div><div>- Sharon Bethune, Virginia resident and former EPA employee</div><div>
</div><div>During Wheeler’s tenure, the EPA scrubbed climate change language from the agency’s website. And Wheeler questioned the results of a sobering federal climate assessment, saying some of its findings were “based on the worst-case scenario.”</div><div>
</div><div>Owens Powell was surprised that Youngkin tapped Wheeler for the job given what she felt was a clear and well-documented record at the EPA. If he’s confirmed, she fears he will not only cause similar damage in Virginia, but negatively impact the EPA’s ability to collaborate with the state agency, ultimately making it more difficult to confront climate change and other environmental threats.</div><div>
</div><div>“I couldn’t imagine that anyone would have thought he would be a good idea for this position,” she told HuffPost by phone. “It’s AFGE Council 238’s sincere hope that someone in a position of authority will stand up for sound science and the enforcement of corresponding environmental laws and reject this nomination.”</div><div>
</div><div>Youngkin’s office did not respond to specific questions Thursday, instead referring HuffPost to an interview the governor did with WTVR-TV in Richmond last week in which he called Wheeler “the most qualified person for this job.”</div><div>
</div><div>A former private equity executive, Youngkin is the first Republican governor of Virginia since 2009. One of his first actions after being sworn in Jan. 15 was to sign an executive order aimed at withdrawing Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program that several states joined to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.</div><div>...</div>=GUK 2009?Some positive changes in the past eight years were inadvertent. The Bush administration's refusal to cap carbon dioxide emissions acted as a catalyst, with 24 states acting on their own to put in place regional cap and trade networks. Some 27 states enacted renewable portfolios, mandating local power companies to produce more of their electricity from sun, wind and solar power. "A lot of things happened because the Bush Administration was so negative about a lot of things," said Claussen.<div class="views-field views-field-body" style="overflow: inherit;"><div class="field-content">month New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu <a href="https://www.governor.nh.gov/news-media/press-2019/20191217-climate-initiative.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">announced</a> the state would not be participating in the <a href="https://www.transportationandclimate.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">Transportation and Climate Initiative</a> (TCI), a regional cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing carbon emissions from vehicles. The program is still in early stages of development, but groups tied to petroleum interests and conservative networks funded by the Koch empire are <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/11/23/transportation-climate-initiative-opposition-oil-gasoline-business" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">already fighting it</a> with opposition campaigns.</div></div><div class="views-field views-field-view-node" style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/01/26/state-policy-network-oil-transportation-climate-initiative-northeast" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">READ MORE</a></div>icn 1219...<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">More States Join Northeast's Carbon Market</h3>With Congress dormant thus far on climate and the Obama administration's attempted executive action legacy unraveling, the most durable climate policies so far in the United States have been crafted by the states—especially when working together.The Northeast's carbon market, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), has <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03102019/pennsylvania-rggi-coal-gas-power-plant-emissions-carbon-cap-trade-regulation" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">helped to cut emissions</a> from electricity generation in the nine states involved by 47 percent in the past decade. The revenue generated by the carbon market has also allowed the states to invest in energy efficiency and utility bill assistance for low-income families.[nice map]Building on the success of RGGI, a dozen northeastern states hope to finalize plans in early 2020 to launch a Transportation Climate Initiative, tackling their now-largest source of carbon emissions—cars and trucks.  RGGI is now set to expand, with New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy bringing the state back into the fold in 2020, reversing the 2011 decision by his Republican predecessor Chris Christie. Partisan division in Virginia's state capital stalled the plan by Gov. Ralph Northam to join RGGI in 2019, but after <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06112019/2019-election-virginia-legislature-kentucky-knoxville-climate-change-clean-energy-democrats" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Democrats flipped the Legislature</a> in November, regional cap-and-trade is likely to extend its reach into the Old Dominion soon. The biggest development for RGGI is <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03102019/pennsylvania-rggi-coal-gas-power-plant-emissions-carbon-cap-trade-regulation" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf beginning the process of joining</a>, since his state's electricity market is larger than most of the other northeastern states combined.Pollution allowances will be auctioned to fuel suppliers in the region, with a declining cap on the number of allowances each year and the proceeds invested in electric vehicle infrastructure, mass transit, and other improvements designed to curb carbon emissions. As with RGGI, three Republican governors are on board—Massachusetts' Charlie Baker, who is chairing TCI; Maryland's Larry Hogan and Vermont's Phil Scott."It's very bipartisan, and I think that it just shows you that rational behavior is still alive in dealing with the threat of climate change," said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center at Georgetown Law School, which is providing research and other support for the TCI.Several of those states joined California and Oregon in December in committing to accelerate the shift to zero-emissions trucks and buses. California's Air Resources Board is <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/advanced-clean-trucks-act-fact-sheet" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">considering  regulations</a> that would require an increasing percentage of heavy-duty truck sales to be zero-emissions.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Who's Missing?</h3>But can the United States fight climate change with only half the states engaged? America's Pledge stresses that, yes, it has the potential. The states, cities, businesses and other institutions in its coalition represent 68 percent of U.S. GDP, 68 percent of the population, and 51 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.But the most carbon-intensive economies in the U.S. are still not part of the fight.Sixty-five percent of the remaining U.S. coal power capacity, for example, is located in the 25 states that are not part of America's Pledge, led by Texas, Indiana and Kentucky. The America's Pledge analysis found that the U.S. could still make progress without the help of these states. It calculated that if just a handful of the states that have already shown some willingness to act adopted stronger policies, like those set by climate leaders like California, the U.S. could cut emissions up to 37 percent by 2030, even if the most carbon-intensive states and the federal government refuse to act. But that's not where the U.S. needs to be if it hopes to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, as the science says is necessary to stave off climate change's worst ravages."None of the states who are climate leaders would say that what they're doing is enough," said Arroyo. "But you've got to start to do what you can do, and prove the concept that you can do this without breaking the bank, and in fact you can do it while growing your economy, creating jobs and enhancing the quality of life."RMI's Frisch said the real lesson of the state and local climate effort so far in the United States is that it is essential, but not sufficient."The states are the reason for the progress that we've had so far," she said. "And their effort will still be fundamental going ahead. But we can't get where we need to be without the federal government, and the federal government can't do it without the states. We need to have both."As California continues to battle the Trump administration over the state’s authority to set stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles, a coalition of East Coast states is facing a potential battle of its own, with opposition emerging to the states’ plan to tackle transportation emissions. <div class="views-field views-field-body" style="overflow: inherit;" open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif"><div class="field-content">That plan, called the <a href="https://www.transportationandclimate.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204);">Transportation and Climate Initiative</a> (TCI), seeks to curb transportation-sector greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-invest program. The 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states plus the District of Columbia are modeling it after the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a similar cap-and-trade scheme for the power sector.</div></div><div class="views-field views-field-disqus-comment-count" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px; font-family: " open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px"></div><div class="views-field views-field-view-node" style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; font-family: " open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/11/23/transportation-climate-initiative-opposition-oil-gasoline-business" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">READ MOR</a>e</div>icn 1019Pennsylvania, one of the nation's largest coal and natural gas producing states, is moving to join the Northeast's carbon market. It would mark the largest expansion of the multistate initiative since its inception a decade ago and a milestone in the drive by states to counter the impact of the Trump administration's retreat from climate action.Pennsylvania would become the largest member in terms of carbon emissions of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), now a nine-state compact to curb pollution from the electricity sector.Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that joining RGGI would be a necessary step for achieving the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012019/pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-reduction-target-natural-gas-fracking-climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">targets for cuts in greenhouse gas pollution</a> he set earlier this year."If we want a Pennsylvania that is habitable for our children and grandchildren, where temperatures aren't in the 90s in October ... where flooding doesn't destroy homes and businesses over and over again, we need to get serious right now about addressing the climate crisis," Wolf said.It is not clear how far Wolf can go to join RGGI without action by the Republican-controlled state legislature. As buzz grew in the state capital earlier this year on a possible RGGI move, the Wolf administration<a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/could-carbon-emissions-become-an-alternative-funding-source-for-gov-wolfs-restore-pa-infrastructure-program.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> reportedly</a> floated a proposal that indicated legislative action would be needed to authorize spending the hundreds of millions of dollars per year in proceeds from carbon fees that the state stands to receive from its involvement in RGGI. But Wolf signed an order Thursday to begin the process of establishing the rules to govern the state's entry to the RGGI market without waiting for the legislature."This is the beginning of the process," he said. "I'm looking forward to a robust conversation with environmental advocates, the General Assembly, Pennsylvanians all across the state to figure out how we do this right." Wolf said he expects Pennsylvania to be a RGGI member within the next two years.New Jersey, an original RGGI member that dropped out under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, is currently moving forward with establishing the rules to rejoin RGGI, a months-long process that it expects to have in place by <a href="https://www.rggi.org/sites/default/files/Uploads/Press-Releases/2019_06_17_NJ_Announcement_Release.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Jan. 1, 2020</a>. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, also a Democrat, tried to bring his state into RGGI but was blocked earlier this year by the state's Republican-controlled legislature. <h1 class="headline" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.4;">Cap and trade fails in Va. Now what?</h1><section class="excerpt" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">It was supposed to be a crowning moment for cap and trade. Instead, it became the biggest setback for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative since 2012.</section><a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060282005" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;"></a><section class="homepage byline" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0.25em 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By <a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Benjamin_Storrow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;">Benjamin Storrow</a> in <a href="https://www.eenews.net/cw" class="publication cw" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold;">Climatewire</a> <time datetime="2019-05-06 07:32:13 -0400" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;">7:32 AM EDT</time></section><div>----</div><div><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012019/pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-reduction-target-natural-gas-fracking-climate-change">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012019/pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-reduction-target-natural-gas-fracking-climate-change</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;">In Pennsylvania, a coal-mining state where the fracking boom has also pushed natural gas production to the second highest levels in the nation, Gov. Tom Wolf is launching into his second term with a conspicuous move on climate change.Wolf issued an executive order on Tuesday to set the state's first economy-wide targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.His goal to <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/executive-order-2019-01-commonwealth-leadership-in-addressing-climate-change-and-promoting-energy-conservation-and-sustainable-governance/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">cut greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent by 2025</a> compared to 2005 levels mirrors the commitment the U.S. made as part of the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Paris climate agreement</a>. And his longer-term target—an 80 percent reduction by 2050—is in line with the decarbonization that scientists have said will be needed to keep global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.But meeting that target is easier said than done with Republicans in control of both chambers of the legislature, as the Democratic governor pointed out.  The governor can set energy efficiency targets for state agencies, take steps to increase the number of electric cars in state fleets, and increase purchases of renewable energy, but those moves would be insufficient on their own to curb Pennsylvania's emissions.Pennsylvania now ranks fourth in the country, behind Texas, California and Florida, in <a href="https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">carbon emissions</a>. <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16022018/methane-leaks-oil-natural-gas-data-global-warming-pennsylvania-edf-study" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Methane</a>, a short-lived climate pollutant, is also an issue. The state is second behind Texas in natural gas production and the third-largest <a href="https://www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">coal</a> producer after Wyoming and West Virginia.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">'Not Too Much, But Not Too Little'</h3>Wolf cautioned that it was unlikely that legislative action would be forthcoming to accomplish his greenhouse gas reduction goals. He also said he did not have any regulatory actions in mind and did not want to be punitive to industry."What I try to make sure is that what I do is not too much, but not too little," he <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2019/01/08/Wolf-Pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-carbon-climate/stories/201901080082" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">said</a>. Wolf used the signing event at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh to hail a local utility, Peoples Natural Gas, for a commitment to cut its methane emissions in half, calling it a model for industry and government cooperation.By setting the targets, Pennsylvania joins 16 other states that as part of the <a href="https://www.usclimatealliance.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">U.S. Climate Alliance</a> have pledged to meet the U.S. climate commitment despite President Donald Trump's vow to exit the Paris accord.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">States Stepping Up on Climate Policies</h3>The announcement comes at a time when <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112018/state-carbon-pricing-tax-fee-climate-change-washington-oregon-new-jersey-virginia-hawaii-massachusetts-new-york" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">states are stepping up</a> on a wide variety of fronts to counter Trump's moves to promote fossil fuels and end climate action.On Tuesday, legislators in <a href="https://www.ncel.net/2019/01/08/legislators-from-eight-states-announce-coordinated-effort-to-block-offshore-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">nine coastal states </a>announced they would introduce legislation to try to block Trump's plan for a major expansion in offshore drilling.Pennsylvania joined eight eastern states and Washington, D.C., late last year in committing to cut <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20122018/climate-change-solutions-transportation-cap-and-trade-northeast-states-washington-california-model-rggi" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">transportation emissions</a> in the region by designing a new cap-and-trade system.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;">Pennsylvania Hasn't Joined RGGI</h3>But Pennsylvania has been out of step with neighboring states when it comes to power plant emissions.When New Jersey rejoins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) later this year, Pennsylvania will be the only northeastern state led by a Democratic governor not to be a part of the market-based program to reduce utility emissions.More than 60 Pennsylvania businesses, communities and faith groups in November petitioned Pennsylvania's Environmental Quality Board to initiate an economy-wide "cap-and-trade" program. Although the board rejected a similar petition before, the new effort relies on a 2017 state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a broad interpretation of the Environmental Rights Amendment in the state's constitution.</div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;">PUBLISHED UNDER:</label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/natural-gas-and-fracking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">NATURAL GAS AND FRACKING</a></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/global-climate-treaty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">GLOBAL CLIMATE TREATY</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT</a></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/short-lived-climate-pollutants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">SHORT-LIVED CLIMATE POLLUTANTS</a></div></div></div></div></div><div></div>regional grid: AB 13~ offshore drillbuffet coal nevada; ISP places side bets/hedge but gets beat? ~nrdc FERC under obama boosted enforcement.<a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-june-26-2018/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-june-26-2018/</a> antonia j<a href="https://consumerwatchdog.org/betting-against-house-how-californias-leaders-could-gamble-away-our-energy-future-western-power" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://consumerwatchdog.org/betting-against-house-how-californias-leaders-could-gamble-away-our-energy-future-western-power</a><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16042018/cap-and-trade-economics-energy-efficiency-jobs-rggi-regional-greenhouse-gas-initiative-carbon-market-data">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16042018/cap-and-trade-economics-energy-efficiency-jobs-rggi-regional-greenhouse-gas-initiative-carbon-market-data</a>Nine years after its launch, the nation's first mandatory carbon-trading program is still boosting the economy and creating jobs while continuing to cut power plant emissions in its nine-state region, a new report shows.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The <a href="https://www.rggi.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative</a>, or RGGI, wasn't designed for economic development, but that's been an important outcome, the Analysis Group, an economic research firm, reported Tuesday.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The nine Eastern states gained $1.4 billion in economic benefits from RGGI over the past three years because of the way they invested proceeds from the cap-and-trade program, the analysts found. The biggest payoff came in investments in energy efficiency programs, which have led to more businesses and jobs in activities such as energy audits and installing energy-efficiency equipment.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">...<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/energy-efficient-states-2513543805.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/energy-efficient-states-2513543805.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Which States Are the Most Energy-Efficient? New Rankings for 2017</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2513543805" data-authors="Union of Concerned Scientists" data-headline="Which States Are the Most Energy-Efficient? New Rankings for 2017" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description">By John RogersAutumn makes me think of leaves colored orange and amber and red, of the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg wafting from a range of desserts … and of states vying for top honors in the annual state ranking of energy efficiency policies and progress.The leaves are mostly done, and the desserts are in my belly. But the <a href="http://aceee.org/state-policy/scorecard" target="blank" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">latest ranking</a> from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is out and available, and ready for sampling. It's always a beautiful sight and a tasty treat.Energy efficiency – Why and how?Energy efficiency is already <a href="http://blog.ucsusa.org/julie-mcnamara/while-you-werent-looking-energy-efficiency-became-one-of-our-nations-top-energy-resources" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">one of the main tools we use for meeting new energy demand</a>. Why it makes sense as a tool is clear, as the new report says:"[Energy efficiency] creates jobs, not only directly for manufacturers and service providers, but also indirectly in other sectors by saving energy and freeing up funds to support the local economy. Efficiency also reduces <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pollution</a>, strengthens community and grid resilience, promotes equity, and improves health."The annual scorecard "ranks states on their efficiency policies and programs, not only assessing performance but also documenting best practices and recognizing leadership." ACEEE does that by looking at a range of metrics that are shaped by each state's efforts:<ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Utility and public benefits programs and policies</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Transportation policies</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Building energy codes and compliance</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Combined heat and power (CHP) policies</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>State government–led initiatives around energy efficiency</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Appliance and equipment standards</li></ul>Who's on top?The highlighted states include some familiar faces plus a few new ones. The top states were the same in 2017 as in 2016, and highlighted the strong focus on efficiency in certain parts of the country:Massachusetts took the top spot for the seventh straight year, and stood alone at the top (after tying with California for 2016 honors). Northeast states also took third (Rhode Island), fourth (Vermont), sixth (Connecticut), and seventh (New York).<ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>The West Coast states garnered high marks, too, taking second (California), fifth (Oregon), and seventh (Washington).</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>The Midwest also made a good showing, at ninth (Minnesota) and eleventh (Illinois and Michigan, tied).</li></ul>ACEEE makes a point of calling out some "most improved" states, too, and this year that brought in states from other parts of the country:<ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Idaho was the most most improved, jumping up seven spots and landing it in the middle of the pack—its best performance, says ACEEE, since 2012—due to investments in "demand-side management", increased adoption of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles" style="text-decoration-line: none;">electric vehicles</a>, and building energy code improvements.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Florida gained three spots in part due to its work on energy efficiency for the state's farmers.</li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li>Its work to strengthen building energy codes in the state helped Virginia move up four notches.</li></ul></div></div>=<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23082017/rggi-northeast-states-tighten-power-plant-emissions">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23082017/rggi-northeast-states-tighten-power-plant-emissions</a>Nine eastern states announced Wednesday that they have agreed on a proposal to cut global-warming pollution from the region's power plants an additional 30 percent between 2020 and 2030.The compact of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (<a href="https://www.rggi.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">RGGI</a>) has worked for two years to hammer out the next step in their landmark emissions cap-and-trade program, which puts a price on carbon dioxide emissions from the production of electricity. The program has a track record of cutting emissions fairly painlessly across a densely populated section of the country.Advocacy groups and policy makers have been closely watching the outcome of the negotiations. The RGGI states' decision on how to move forward, which still must be finalized, is seen as a test case of <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062017/paris-climate-agreement-trump-bloomberg-cities-states-businesses" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">states' commitment</a> to cut greenhouse gas emissions as the Trump administration attempts to dismantle federal climate policies, including the Clean Power Plan that was the Obama administration's plan for controlling power plant emissions.The RGGI states—with five Republican governors and four Democratic governors—together represent the world's sixth largest economy, with $2.8 trillion in GDP. California, where the legislature <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17072017/california-cap-trade-bill-extended-2030-jerry-brown-victory" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">recently voted to extend</a> its own cap-and-trade program through 2030, falls just behind in GDP, at $2.5 trillion.<div class="media media-element-container media-image_right_medium" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; float: right; margin: 0.25em 0px 0.25em 1.5em; width: 266.375px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><figure id="file-268883" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" class="file file-image file-image-png" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><img alt="States in RGGI, the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative" title="States in RGGI, the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative" height="637" width="529" class="media-element file-image-right-medium" typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/icn_full_wrap_wide/public/RGGIStates529px_0.png?itok=HndvTPNa" style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%; display: block; float: none; width: 266.375px;" /></figure></div>Despite the bipartisan support for the <a href="https://www.rggi.org/docs/ProgramReview/2017/08-23-17/Announcement_Proposed_Program_Changes.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">proposal</a> announced Wednesday, Republican administrations in three states—Maine, New Hampshire and Maryland—had previously expressed concern about the costs of more stringent cuts. In 2011, New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, withdrew his state from the coalition.Ultimately, the RGGI states agreed to pursue one of the more ambitious proposals on the table, which calls for lowering emissions caps each year by 3 percent over the previous year. Under the current plan, their commitment is to lower the cap by 2.5 percent a year. Under the agreed upon proposal, power sector emissions would be 65 percent lower by 2030 than they were 2009, RGGI's inaugural year....west coast: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Climate_Initiative">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Climate_Initiative</a><a href="http://www.globalpossibilities.org/could-western-states-band-together-to-comply-with-the-clean-power-plan/">http://www.globalpossibilities.org/could-western-states-band-together-to-comply-with-the-clean-power-plan/</a>==

<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/carbon-copy/20140809/obama-action-group-joins-fight-against-christies-climate-pact-exit">http://insideclimatenews.org/carbon-copy/20140809/obama-action-group-joins-fight-against-christies-climate-pact-exit</a>---

w England’s market-based approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions shows that states can fight climate change while still improving their economies, the region’s top environmental officials said Wednesday.

Curt Spalding, Environmental Protection Agency administrator for New England, suggested that Maine and most other northeastern states had already compiled a “toolbox of tools” to meet the federal agency’s proposed rules for slashing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants nationwide. The goal now, Spalding said, is to put in place a national framework flexible enough to work in all states.g<div class="inner-sidebar" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">

<p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">“What this rule tries to do … is to take advantage of the building blocks that have been put in place in places like New England,” Spalding told several dozen people in a University of Southern Maine lecture hall.

Spalding spoke about the EPA’s proposed carbon standards for power plants during an unofficial “listening session” in Portland organized by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Island Institute and the Voter Education Brigade. “The first goal is to get the framework in place so that the kinds of continuous improvement experience we’ve had here in New England can happen everywhere,” Spalding said.

Spalding pointed out that New England’s gross domestic product has increased 22 percent since 1999 while carbon emissions have declined 20 percent.

In June, the EPA unveiled proposed rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. The rules, which use 2005 emission levels as a starting point, are part of the Obama administration’s effort to reduce greenhouse gases linked to climate change. Each state was given a different target, with Maine expected to reduce emissions by 13.5 percent by 2030.

The EPA is still discussing technical details of how New England’s existing carbon emission reduction system – the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – will mesh with the proposed rules, under which states are supposed to start showing carbon dioxide reductions by 2020. However, Spalding said the proposed rules were designed to be flexible and should enhance existing programs such as the New England initiative.

Spalding was in Maine days after a dozen other states filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA proposal and roughly one week after several thousand people attended public hearings held in four cities around the country. Speakers at those public hearings were deeply divided with the strongest opposition coming from coal-mining states and areas where coal is the dominant source of fuel for power plants.

The crowd at Portland’s unofficial “listening session” was decidedly friendly to the proposed rules. Speakers warned that a warming climate was already affecting Maine’s commercial fisheries and could have dramatic impacts on lobster, clams and other shellfish as higher carbon levels lead to more acidic oceans.

“If we do not cut carbon emissions now, particularly from power plants, it becomes much more difficult if not impossible to protect ourselves from the worst ravages of climate change,” said Tom Tietenberg, professor emeritus of economics at Colby College who has researched climate policies. “The window of opportunity is closing. The time to act is now.”

Dr. Tony Owens, an emergency physician at Maine Medical Center, said he admitted three people Tuesday who attributed their breathing problems to poorer air quality. “I see the effects every day,” Owens said.

The EPA’s carbon reduction plans have not been controversial in Maine, largely because the six major power plants in the state have been operating under a carbon-reduction plan for five years. In addition, the state has no coal-fired power plants.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a nine-state program that imposes a cap on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-burning power plants and then requires those facilities to buy credits for each ton they release. Credits are traded on a carbon market like other commodities, generating revenue for energy conservation or home weatherization in Maine while giving regulated facilities a financial incentive to reduce emissions below their caps.

Emissions from power plants in the nine states have fallen 40 percent, although market trends toward cleaner-burning natural gas and away from coal and oil are also major factors.

Spalding said it was too early to tell whether Maine and the other eight participating states would be required to reduce emissions further under the EPA proposal. The EPA and the states must reconcile the different methods that the two systems use to calculate emissions.

==

6/14

<h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Will Gov. Chris Christie Re-embrace Cap & Trade in Wake of EPA Rule?</h1>

hree years ago New Jersey's governor peremptorily walked out on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, saying the novel cap-and-trade scheme for Northeast power plants <a href="http://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/552011/approved/20110526a.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">wasn't right for his state.</a>

Now Gov. Chris Christie finds himself under pressure from several forces—including the Obama administration and local grassroots groups—to return to RGGI's embrace.

"It's the obvious thing for New Jersey to do," said <a href="http://www.clf.org/profiles/seth-kaplan/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Seth Kaplan</a> of the Conservation Law Foundation. "All you need to do is pick up the phone and say, 'whoops, sorry!'"

When the <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/carbon-copy/20140603/how-ambitious-epas-climate-change-rule-really" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules on June 2</a>cracking down on carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel plants, the agency suggested that one of the smartest ways for states to meet its targets would be to form multistate emissions markets –or to join existing ones, like RGGI. The flexibility to trade carbon allowances would lower compliance costs, the agency said.

But ever since a federal cap-and-trade bill passed the House during President Obama's first year in office, only to die in the Senate, any use of markets to regulate carbon dioxide has become anathema to conservative Republicans. Christie's spurning of RGGI's version was widely seen as a matter of presidential primary positioning, and he's shown no sign of reversing course.

But that could change—especially if he decides his presidential prospects are waning.

"I predict that New Jersey will rejoin RGGI when and if Gov. Christie accepts that he is not a viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination," said<a href="http://www.robertstavinsblog.org/" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Robert Stavins</a>, a prominent environmental economist at Harvard University.

The pressure was already on even before the EPA issued its proposed rule, aimed at reducing emissions from the power sector by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Last March, environmentalists won a New Jersey <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/new-jersey-ordered-by-court-to-repeal-or-amend-pollution-rules.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">court case</a> finding that Christie's cut-and-run withdrawal from RGGI was illegal because he did it by fiat, without any due process such as hearings or public comment. In July, the state will commence just that kind of formal process, as Christie's environmental agency tries to <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/541846/nj-moves-to-repeal-cap-and-trade-regs" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">codify its separation</a> from RGGI into an official divorce.

RGGI advocates plan to use the agency's public hearings to argue that it would be wiser for New Jersey to reverse course and rejoin the regional arrangement than to go it alone. To stay aloof would be to forfeit the financial benefits of the cap-and-trade approach, while the state attempts to cut its carbon pollution by 48 percent by 2030, the target set for New Jersey under EPA's proposal.

"Our argument for the state to rejoin RGGI got a big shot in the arm from the EPA," said <a href="http://www.environmentnewjersey.org/staff/nje/doug-omalley" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Doug O'Malley</a>, director of Environment New Jersey, one of the groups involved in the tug of war. "The EPA proposal and our victory really put the screws into the Christie administration. The administration is in an uncomfortable place right now. They'd hoped they could pull us out of RGGI and be done with it."

State agency spokesmen have said it's too early to comment on anything to do with the EPA’s proposal, or how the state might comply. Christie did not sign a letter from governors who <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/229926923/RGA-Energy-Letter" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">excoriated the draft rule</a> as an unjustified expansion of federal powers. The rule offers states extraordinary leeway.

RGGI has considerable support in the state legislature, although not enough to override Christie, who has twice vetoed legislation that would have revived the state’s participation.

"They [the administration] have to do something now, so what is most cost effective?" said <a href="http://www.env-ne.org/about-us/staff-bios" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Peter Shattuck</a>, director of market initiatives at ENE, a northeastern environmental advocacy group. "They will either have to rejoin or come up with some alternative proposal. The simplest solution for New Jersey will be to rejoin RGGI."

RGGI as Fiscal Candy

With the two sides at loggerheads, the question is whether the argument for RGGI becomes overwhelming in light of EPA's regulations—and with the maturing of RGGI itself.

Now often described as a model for <a href="http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41836.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">emergent cap-and-trade systems</a>, RGGI got off to a rocky start in its early years, mainly because its carbon emission caps were too loose to have much impact on pollution levels, which were falling anyway. Cheap natural gas was already undercutting dirtier coal as a fuel for many power producers. The deep recession cut into demand for power, helping hold down emissions. Few RGGI participants needed extra pollution credits to stay under their caps, so market prices of the credits fell to the floor.

Most governors, though, liked RGGI enough to want to patch it up. That's because when pollution allowances are auctioned off to the regulated power companies, the revenues flow to the states— fiscal candy that is then doled out to electricity consumers in the form of subsidies for conservation and efficiency. That in turn cuts user demand—and electric bills. And it <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20111213/cap-and-trade-massachusetts-clean-economy-rggi-energy-efficiency-green-buildings-new-jersey-christie" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">creates jobs</a>.

To preserve the scheme, the participating nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states decided last year to <a href="http://www.rggi.org/docs/PressReleases/PR130207_ModelRule.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">tighten it up</a>, sharply lowering the emissions cap and continuing to push the limit gently downward for years into the future. Prices of pollution credits perked up, and so did the stream of revenues to the states.

Pollution in the participating states keeps dropping, the goal of EPA’s new rules. Hence <a href="http://www.rggi.org/docs/PressReleases/PR060214_EPARules_Final.pdf" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">their benign view of the EPA proposal</a>, which does not seem onerous to them.

None of this has swayed Christie. He viewed RGGI's allowance auctions as a tax on the state's utilities that served only to drive power production out of state—mainly to Pennsylvania, not part of RGGI, where there's much more coal used.

He has a point. Some experts say that "leakage" of pollution across the boundaries of regional cap-and-trade schemes limits their effectiveness and needs to be carefully controlled when designing them.

One way to plug this kind of leak might be if Pennsylvania were to enter the RGGI system, said Pete Maniloff, who <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0dis4W6Bmh0J:econbus.mines.edu/working-papers/wp201404.pdf+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">studies carbon markets</a> at the Colorado School of Mines.

"Joining a regional cap-and-trade system is almost certainly going to be the most cost-effective way to comply with the EPA," he said. "And of the bigger the system the better."

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<div class="seealso" style="margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See Also

<div class="seealso-each" style=" margin-bottom: 4px;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131219/christie-administration-ignores-climate-change-new-jerseys-post-sandy-rebuild" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Christie Administration Ignores Climate Change in New Jersey's Post-Sandy Rebuild</a></div>

<div class="seealso-each" style=" margin-bottom: 4px;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/christie-fails-muscle-gas-pipeline-through-njs-protected-forests" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Christie Fails to Muscle Gas Pipeline Through NJ's Protected Forests</a></div>

<div class="seealso-each" style=" margin-bottom: 4px;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/carbon-copy/20140605/green-states-black-states-obamas-climate-plan-paints-us-new-colors" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Green States & Black States: Obama's Climate Plan Paints U.S. in New Colors</a></div>

<div class="seealso-each" style=" margin-bottom: 4px;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20111213/cap-and-trade-massachusetts-clean-economy-rggi-energy-efficiency-green-buildings-new-jersey-christie" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Cap and Trade Gives Massachusetts Economy Critical Boost, Defying Naysayers</a></div>

</div>

==

With the sturm und drang over new federal rules to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants, it might go by unnoticed that nine U.S. states have had their own system to do that since 2008 — and this week, it had its most successful auction of carbon permits yet.

The <a href="http://www.c2es.org/us-states-regions/regional-climate-initiatives/rggi" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative</a> (RGGI) is a cap-and-trade system that covers nine states in America’s northeastern corner. It works by placing a hard cap on the overall amount of carbon participants in the system can emit in a given year, then slices that cap up into permits — all worth a ton of carbon each — that emitters can then buy and sell among themselves. The idea is to create a market incentive to cut emissions: if a plant or businesses in the system reduces their emissions, they either don’t need to buy as many permits or can sell off excess ones for a profit.

So the price of the permits is a key indicator of whether the system is working; the higher the price, the greater the incentive. And this Wednesday, <a href="http://www.rggi.org/docs/Auctions/24/PR060614_Auction24.pdf" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">in an auction</a> to distribute a portion of the permits for 2014, RGGI sold off 100 percent of the permits available for a clearing price of $5.02. That’s the highest price of any auction since the program began in 2008.

It was <a href="http://www.rggi.org/market/co2_auctions/upcoming_auctions" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">the 24th auction</a> RGGI has held for permits since 2008, and the second it’s held this year. The <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/07/3379661/rggi-new-cap-auction/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">previous auction</a> also sold out all its permits for a clearing price of $4 — the highest price at the time — and on top of that it sold out all 5 million of the backup permits for 2014.

It’s a welcome development. Prior to 2014 the system was struggling, with prices bouncing off the mandated floor of $2 per ton. Thanks to forces like the recession and the natural gas boom, the cap was simply too high to force emitters to cut any more carbon than they would’ve done in RGGI’s absence. So the states got together and decided to lower the cap, dramatically dropping it from 165 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2013 to 91 million tons in 2014. From there, the plan is to ratchet it downward year by year to just over 78 million tons in 2020. The jump to $4 per ton and now to $5.02 suggest the move worked.

“Every auction reaffirms that RGGI’s market-based program is providing a clear market signal to reduce air pollution and drive the transition to cleaner, more efficient use of energy,” <a href="http://www.rggi.org/docs/Auctions/24/PR060614_Auction24.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">said</a>Joe Martens, a Vice-Chair on RGGI’s Board of Directors....

<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/06/3446085/rggi-latest-auction-success/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/06/3446085/rggi-latest-auction-success/</a>

==

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: none; display: inline !important;">The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is America's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions and covers power plants across nine states.<br style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />

<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Investments of RGGI auction proceeds through 2012 are estimated to return more than $2 billion in lifetime energy savings to millions of participating households and businesses through clean energy and energy efficiency programs.<br style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: none; display: inline !important;">Following a 2012 review, the nine Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states that comprise RGGI—Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont—committed to cutting regional power plant pollution by 17.5% below 2012 levels by 2020. With an ambitious cap and a successful state partnership, RGGI offers a potential model for state-level compliance with EPA power plant standards."

===

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative</a>

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) "is the first mandatory, market-based effort in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." It is a "cap and trade" agreement among ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to "reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector 10% by 2018." The participating states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a>

"RGGI is composed of individual CO2 Budget Trading Programs in each of the ten participating states," according to the program's website. "These ten programs are implemented through state regulations, based on a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rggi.org/about/history/model_rule" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">RGGI Model Rule</a>, and are linked through CO2 allowance reciprocity. Regulated power plants will be able to use a CO2 allowance issued by any of the ten participating states to demonstrate compliance with the state program governing their facility. Taken together, the ten individual state programs will function as a single regional compliance market for carbon emissions." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a>

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; width: auto; display: inline;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Critiques" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1 Critiques</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Influence_of_ALEC_and_Americans_for_Prosperity" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">2 Influence of ALEC and Americans for Prosperity</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#NJ_pulls_out_of_RGGI" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">2.1 NJ pulls out of RGGI</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Americans_for_Prosperity_sue_NY_over_RGGI" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">2.2 Americans for Prosperity sue NY over RGGI</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Report_finds_widespread_economic_benefits_from_RGGI" style="text-decoration: underline; background-image: none;">3 Report finds widespread economic benefits from RGGI</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Personnel" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4 Personnel</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Contact_information" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">5 Contact information</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Articles_and_resources" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">6 Articles and resources</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#Related_SourceWatch_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">6.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#References" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">6.2 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#External_resources" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">6.3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#External_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">6.4 External articles</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto;">Critiques</h2>

"RGGI currently allows the 225 power plants whose emissions are capped to emit some 188 million tons of carbon a year. Critics are quick to point out that the cap vastly exceeds current polluting levels, undermining the very notion of their being a 'cap' at all," noted John Wihbey in May 2009. For RGGI states to adjust their carbon "caps" to better reflect -- and impact -- power production, they must go through "an extensive legislative process." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-WihbeyY-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a>

"The emission levels in 2008 for RGGI were only 156 million tons of carbon, a roughly 9 percent decline from 2007. ... The reasons for the yawning gap between the cap limit and the real emissions are complex: a political process that set the original cap to accommodate industry concerns; the recession; milder weather; a move toward cleaner natural gas; and increased energy efficiency in the 10 states. It won't be until 2015 that the cap begins being reduced, with the goal of reducing emissions 10 percent by 2018." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-WihbeyY-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a>

"The other questionable result so far for RGGI is the price for a ton of carbon. It remains in the $3 range, nowhere near the kind of price that might spur utilities to seek alternatives. The price in RGGI’s first auction was $3.05; it was $3.51 in the third auction in March 2009." According to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Harvard_University" title="Harvard University" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Harvard University</a> environmental economics professor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_Stavins&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Robert Stavins (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Robert Stavins</a>, "The [RGGI carbon] price is equal to the market's judgment of the expected value of RGGI allowances as options to be exchanged in the future for a federal cap-and-trade system in 2012-2015, when RGGI program is inevitably pre-empted." In other words, the only reason why power companies see value in RGGI's carbon credits is because they believe the federal government will establish a cap-and-trade system. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-WihbeyY-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a>

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto;">Influence of ALEC and Americans for Prosperity</h2>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Koch Industries</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ExxonMobil" title="ExxonMobil" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">ExxonMobil</a> are part of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), which created legislation that was literally copied-and-pasted and then introduced in the states of Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and New Hampshire to pull the states from the RGGI, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Climate_Initiative&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Western Climate Initiative (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Western Climate Initiative</a>, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Midwestern_Greenhouse_Gas_Accord&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord</a>. Koch and Exxon helped write the legislation at a meeting organized by ALEC, taking a seat at the legislative drafting table beside elected officials and policy analysts by paying a fee between $3,000 and $10,000, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[4]</a>

<h3 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto;">NJ pulls out of RGGI</h3>

<div class="thumbcaption" style="text-align: left; border: none; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px !important;">David Koch Praises Chris Christie's Withdrawl from RGGI</div>

</div>

In April 2011, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he was re-evaluating the state's participation in RGGI and could opt to withdraw the state. The anticipated policy reversal is in step with recent actions in Maine and New Hampshire, where Republican-dominated legislatures are trying to repeal their states' participation in the RGGI.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-mg-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[5]</a>

Some point out the governor's re-evaluation of RGGI may in part be a response to mounting pressure from outspoken RGGI opposition groups, namely <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> (AFP), founded by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">David Koch</a> in 2004, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), which is funded partly by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_G._Koch_Charitable_Foundation" title="Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation</a>. In February 2011, AFP launched a media blitz of radio spots and television advertisements in New Jersey to alert residents "to the fact that RGGI will cause their electricity rates to soar and cost our state jobs," according to the announcement.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-mg-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[5]</a>

In May 2011, NJ Governor Christie pulled the state from RGGI, saying it was a "failure," Christie said he would withdraw from the program “in an orderly fashion” by the end of 2011, coinciding with the end of RGGI’s first compliance period. The nine remaining states will need to provide guidance to explain how they will deal with power plants that currently hold carbon allowances from New Jersey.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[6]</a>

In July 2011, tape of a secret meeting between Christie and Charles Koch was released. In it, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">David Koch</a> said of Christie: "Another example of Governor Christie’s commitment to the free enterprise system is that only a few weeks ago he announced that New Jersey would be withdrawing from the [Regional] Greenhouse Gas Initiative which is a [cheers and applause], which would have raised energy costs, reduced economic growth and led to very little, if any, benefit for the environment." The audio was taken outside the political retreat, where static was reportedly being played in order to block anyone from recording the event. The tape was the first time that Christie’s participation in the Koch-funded retreat had been publicly reported. The trip, which was paid for by the New Jersey GOP, was never written in the governor’s public schedule.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[7]</a>

<h3 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto;">Americans for Prosperity sue NY over RGGI</h3>

In June 2011, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_brothers" title="Koch brothers" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Koch brothers</a>’ corporate <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Front_group" title="Front group" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">front group</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> (AFP) filed a lawsuit in New York’s State Supreme Court seeking to reverse the state's participation in the RGGI. New York joined the RGGI in 2005 when former governor George Pataki (R) approved the state’s participation in the program. The suit alleges that New York is "illegally" taxing residents by taking part in RGGI. The AFP complaint also asserts that carbon emissions trading is unconstitutional because it infringes on federal authority to set rules on air pollution and electrical power transmission across states. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), along with the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, are all named as defendants in the suit.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[8]</a>

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto;">Report finds widespread economic benefits from RGGI</h2>

The 2011 report, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.analysisgroup.com/rggi.aspx" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"The Economic Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative on Ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States"</a> by the Analysis Group quantified the economic benefits from the investments made by 10 states that participated in the RGGI in its first three years of existence. The report found that the regional economy gained more than $1.6 billion in economic value added (reflecting the difference between total revenues in the overall economy, less the cost to produce goods and services); customers saved nearly $1.1 billion on electricity bills, and an additional $174 million on natural gas and heating oil bills, for a total of $1.3 billion in savings over the next decade through installation of<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Energy_efficiency" title="Energy efficiency" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">energy efficiency</a> measures using funding from RGGI auction proceeds; and 16,000 jobs were created regionwide due to RGGI policies and effects.

The Analysis Group describes itself as providing "economic, financial, and business strategy consulting to law firms, corporations, and government agencies."

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto;">Personnel</h2>

As of May 2009: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[9]</a>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jonathan_E._Schrag&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jonathan E. Schrag (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Jonathan E. Schrag</a> - Executive Director</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Laura_Thomas&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Laura Thomas (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Laura Thomas</a> - Business Director</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nicole_Singh&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Nicole Singh (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Nicole Singh</a> - Auction Program Manager</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Emilee_Pierce&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Emilee Pierce (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Emilee Pierce</a> - Communications Manager</li>

</ul>

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto;">Contact information</h2>

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc.

90 Church Street, 4th Floor

New York, NY 10007

Telephone: (212) 417-3179

Fax: (212) 417-4034

Website: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.rggi.org/" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">http://www.rggi.org</a>

<h2 style="background-image: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto;">Articles and resources</h2>

<h3 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto;">Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Climate_change" title="Climate change" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Climate change</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kyoto_Protocol" title="Kyoto Protocol" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Kyoto Protocol</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lisa_Jackson" title="Lisa Jackson" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Lisa Jackson</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_Nations_Framework_Convention_on_Climate_Change" title="United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change</a></li>

</ul>

<h3 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto;">References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-0" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rggi.org/home" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Homepage</a>," Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative website, accessed May 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rggi.org/about" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">About RGGI</a>," Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative website, accessed May 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-WihbeyY-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-WihbeyY_2-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-WihbeyY_2-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-WihbeyY_2-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3.2</a> John Wihbey, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2009/05/learning-from-the-difficult-lessonsof-real-world-regional-cap-and-trade/" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Learning from the Difficult Lessons of Real-World Regional Cap-and-Trade</a>," The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media, May 5, 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> Alison Fitzgerald, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-21/koch-exxon-mobil-among-corporations-helping-write-state-laws.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"Koch, Exxon Mobil Among Corporations Helping Write State Laws"</a> Bloomberg, July 20, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-mg-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-mg_4-0" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">5.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-mg_4-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">5.1</a> Maria Gallucci, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://solveclimate.com/news/20110410/koch-bros-influence-felt-new-jersey-governor-weighs-rggi-exit-carbon-trading" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"Koch Bros. Influence Felt in New Jersey as Governor Weighs Carbon Market Exit"</a> SolveClimate News, April 11, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-5" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/05/27/new-jersey-pulls-out-of-rggi-bans-coal-plants/" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"New Jersey Pulls Out of RGGI, Bans Coal Plants"</a> Environmental Leader, May 27, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> Stephen Lacey and Joe Romm , <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/09/08/314711/christie-met-with-koch/" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"Christie Stunner: NJ Gov Met With Pollutocrat Koch Before Pulling Out of Successful Carbon Pollution Reduction Program"</a> Climate Progress, Sep. 8, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-7" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> T.J. Skolnick, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://desmogblog.com/americans-prosperity-sues-new-york-participating-regional-climate-pact" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"Americans For Prosperity Sues New York For Participating In Regional Climate Pact"</a> DeSmog Blog, July 1, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative#cite_ref-8" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">↑</a> "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rggi.org/rggi/contact" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Contact</a>," Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative website, accessed May 2009.</li>

</ol>

<h3 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto;">External resources</h3>

<h3 style="background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; width: auto;">External articles</h3>

<table style="margin: 0.5em 0.57em 0.5em 0.7em; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 250, 205); border: 1px solid rgb(218, 210, 109);"><tbody><tr><td style=" width: 1363.625px; padding: 0.25em;">This article is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch:Find_or_fix_a_stub" title="SourceWatch:Find or fix a stub" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">stub</a>. You can <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch:Find_or_fix_a_stub" title="SourceWatch:Find or fix a stub" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">help</a> by <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative&action=edit" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">expanding it</a>.</td><td>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

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<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Categories</a>:

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<li style=" margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Stubs" title="Category:Stubs" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Stubs</a></li>

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===

<div class="thumbcaption">David Koch Praises Chris Christie's Withdrawl from RGGI</div>

</div>

In 2010, Christie diverted an estimated $65 million from the state's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Regional_Greenhouse_Gas_Initiative" title="Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative">Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative</a> (RGGI) revenues - which supports renewable energy, energy efficiency and customer assistance projects in New Jersey - "to help balance the $10.7 billion state budget." RGGI proponents argued that the diversion of funds from the state's Global Warming Solutions Fund from fiscal year 2010 to 2011 stunted the program's reach, making it disingenuous for Christie to then say that RGGI is a "failure."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_Jersey_and_coal#cite_note-6">[7]</a>

In April 2011, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he was re-evaluating the state's participation in RGGI and could opt to withdraw the state. The anticipated policy reversal is in step with recent actions in Maine and New Hampshire, where Republican-dominated legislatures are trying to repeal their states' participation in the RGGI.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_Jersey_and_coal#cite_note-mg-5">[6]</a>

Some point out the governor's re-evaluation of RGGI may in part be a response to mounting pressure from outspoken RGGI opposition groups, namely <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a> (AFP), founded by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect">David Koch</a> in 2004, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), which is funded partly by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_G._Koch_Charitable_Foundation" title="Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation" class="mw-redirect">Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation</a>. In February 2011, AFP launched a media blitz of radio spots and television advertisements in New Jersey to alert residents "to the fact that RGGI will cause their electricity rates to soar and cost our state jobs," according to the announcement.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_Jersey_and_coal#cite_note-mg-5">[6]</a>

In May 2011, NJ Governor Christie pulled the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the only mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S., while promising to ban new coal-fired plants in the state. Branding the RGGI a "failure," Christie said he would withdraw from the program “in an orderly fashion” by the end of 2011, coinciding with the end of RGGI’s first compliance period. The RGGI currently has ten member states – New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The nine remaining states will need to provide guidance to explain how they will deal with power plants that currently hold carbon allowances from New Jersey.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_Jersey_and_coal#cite_note-7">[8]</a>

In July 2011, tape of a secret meeting between Christie and Charles Koch was released. In it, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect">David Koch</a> said of Christie: "Another example of Governor Christie’s commitment to the free enterprise system is that only a few weeks ago he announced that New Jersey would be withdrawing from the [Regional] Greenhouse Gas Initiative which is a [cheers and applause], which would have raised energy costs, reduced economic growth and led to very little, if any, benefit for the environment." The audio was taken outside the political retreat, where static was reportedly being played in order to block anyone from recording the event. The tape was the first time that Christie’s participation in the Koch-funded retreat had been publicly reported. The trip, which was paid for by the New Jersey GOP, was never written in the governor’s public schedule.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_Jersey_and_coal#cite_note-8">[9]</a>

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<a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/">http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/</a>

<h1 style="">CASE STUDY: Koch Front Groups Attack RGGI – the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative</h1>

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BRIEF: Koch front groups campaigned against the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a market-based cap-and-trade program established in 2007 by ten U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

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Koch-funded front groups – led by <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://spectator.org/archives/2010/09/28/a-capper-for-christie">Americans for Prosperity (AFP)</a> -- joined right wing mouthpieces like Glenn Beck and others who labeled RGGI a “cap and tax” initiative. Conservative activist Clint Woods of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) stated that RGGI and other regional cap-and-trade regimes had become the “new battlefield” since federal climate legislation was defeated.

ALEC has provided template legislation for states across the country to pull out of regional climate accords such as RGGI and the Western Climate Initiative. The Kochs have already had success in New Hampshire where, on February 28, 2011, the state’s House Republicans voted to leave the RGGI program in a veto-proof vote.

Despite supporting <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Hot-air-N-Y-660554.php">campaigns against RGGI</a>, a Koch subsidiary participated in the very first RGGI trade of physical carbon allowances. As a Koch Supply and Trading spokesperson said, "Koch has participated in the <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Protest-profit-from-same-hands-653908.php">RGGI market since its inception</a>."

FULL SCOOP:

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI -- pronounced “Reggie”) is a market-based cap-and-trade program established in 2007 by ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states (CT, DE, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NH, NY, RI and VT) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. In just over two years, RGGI states raised over $770 million, putting most of the proceeds into clean energy development, home weatherization and other conservation programs that reduce energy consumption and lower energy bills.

Spreading Lies About a “Stealth Tax”

By the middle of 2010 Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and other Koch allies began protesting at RGGI offices and attacking the program as a “stealth tax” that threatens to raise electricity rates so high that they will sap the nation’s economic strength.

AFP offers little evidence to back the charge. RGGI allowances account for 0.4% to 1% of average electricity bills across the region, or about <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/88/8842gov1.html">73 cents per month</a>. Under the RGGI program,<a target="blank" class="pdf" href="http://www.rggi.org/docs/Press_Release_%20RGGI_Proceeds_Report.pdf"> ratepayers end out saving</a> $3 to $4 for every dollar invested.

Utility officials agree that RGGI has had a tiny effect on electric bills. Early projections were that RGGI would add $3 to the average household bill in 2015. The actual cost has been less than that, according to the New Jersey-based <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://articles.philly.com/2010-10-04/news/24980729_1_cap-and-trade-carbon-program-energy">Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG)</a>:, one of the ten largest electric companies in the U.S.

Deliberate Strategy

According to Gavin Donohue, executive director of Independent Power Producers of New York, an industry lobby, the program was targeted by critics because of its potential to help build momentum for a national cap-and-trade climate program.

This strategy was confirmed in September, 2010 by conservative activist Clint Woods of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), who said RGGI and other regional cap-and-trade regimes have become the “new battlefield” since <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42173.html">federal climate legislation was derailed</a>. ALEC, which has created <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-16-koch-group-alec-cut-paste-attack-regional-climate-initiatives/">template legislation</a> for state lawmakers to use as a way to back out of regional climate accords, received $125,000 from the Koch brothers’ Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation in 2009 and has received donations totaling $533,000 from the Koch foundations since 1997. Koch Industries consultant and former executive Mike Morgan sits on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board, and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Stephen Moore, who has attended the Koch brother’s political strategy meetings, is on <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/stories/2006/11/06/daily17.html">ALEC’s Board of Scholars</a>.

After two states diverted a substantial portion of the RGGI program’s revenues for other purposes in 2010 (<a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/nyregion/29greenhouse.html?r=1">$65 million in New Jersey and $90 million in New York</a>), AFP and others began to focus its attacks on the program as a “<a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/072010-americans-prosperity-calls-repeal-new-jersey%E2%80%99s-job-killing-cap-and-trade-program">stealth tax</a>” that should be scrapped altogether.

Environmentalists agree that RGGI revenues should not be diverted, especially since the programs have created thousands of clean energy jobs. According to <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.rggi.org/rggi_benefits/success_stories">RGGI officials</a>, 80 percent of the revenues have gone to energy-efficiency and related programs, as intended. Peter Shattuck, a carbon trading analyst with Environment Northeast, told NPR’s Robert Siegel, “the vast majority” of RGGI funds had gone to <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/132265866/States-Dip-Into-Climate-Funds-To-Shore-Up-Budgets">hundreds of renewable energy and conservation projects</a>, including putting solar panels on schools and helping low-income families insulate their homes.

New Hampshire Legislators Target RGGI

In 2008, New Hampshire committed to cut CO2 emissions from power plants 10% by 2018.

NH was one of the founding states of the RGGI program, with its first auctions taking place in 2009. Since then, the state has awarded over $31 million to 36 different <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.rggi.org/rggi_benefits/program_investments/New_Hampshire">energy efficiency projects and programs</a>.

In the 2010 elections, the <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/11/03/nh_gop_tally_5_sen_almost_300_house_seats/">GOP took over the House</a>, winning 297 of 400 seats, along with 19 of the 24 Senate seats, creating a majority that has not happened since 1962 .Six New Hampshire state Representatives have signed AFP’s “No Climate Tax” pledge, designed to dissuade lawmakers from supporting legislation designed to <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.noclimatetax.com/pledge-signatories/">implement solutions to global warming</a>. Among state candidates who signed a separate “Anti-Tax Pledge,” also created by AFP, which more broadly opposed taxes and government spending, was <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/071910-afp-new-hampshire-anti-tax-pledge-signers">House speaker William O’Brien</a>.

O’Brien then spearheaded the GOP campaign to take down the RGGI program, and on February 23, 2011 New Hampshire’s House voted to repeal RGGI with a majority that ruled out a veto by the governor. The repeal legislation received full support from AFP, with NH state director <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/235423/great-opportunity-to-boost-the-economy">Corey R. Lewandowski </a>claiming in January that RGGI money “was taken by regulators from consumers in the form of higher electricity bills and then redistributed to environmental special interests friendly to the politicians in power.”

The weekend before the vote, <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/climate-change-fight-moves-to-states-20110224">Americans for Prosperity</a> paid for automated “robo calls ” across the state urging the vote against RGGI.

After the vote, Lewandowski, with AFP policy director Phil Kerpen, in an opinion piece for <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/28/giant-leap-forward-new-hampshire-smacks-cap-trade/">FoxNews.com</a>, hailed the vote as “one giant leap forward”, saying it would raise the pressure against similar efforts in New Jersey.

New Jersey Legislative and Political Attack

Americans for Prosperity has been promoting legislation in New Jersey that would yank the state out of the RGGI climate compact, while pressuring Gov. Christie to issue an executive order that would do the same. Although Christie has quietly maintained his support for RGGI (he has used RGGI proceeds to help develop the state’s offshore wind program), AFP and its allies have threatened to oppose any future presidential nomination bid if he refuses to change his position. "It's difficult for him to be a credible option for conservatives nationally if he doesn't take a stand on cap and trade, and that's why we think we'll be able to appeal to him," AFP policy director and <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42173.html">Fox News columnist Phil Kerpen told Politico</a>.

In 2010, AFP organized a series of anti-RGGI rallies in New Jersey and outside the RGGI’s auction house in New York City. At the New York rally, AFP’s New Jersey State Director Steve Lonegan declared that RGGI is “the biggest conspiracy between the public sector, big banks and government that Americans have ever seen and you -- the ratepayers -- are going to pay the price.” Lonegan went on to blast the two-year-old program as "sketchy, shadowy, clandestine and top-secret" to a booing crowd of <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/090910-video-steve-lonegan-speaks-rggi-cap-trade-protest">AFP supporters </a>.

Before organizing the protest, Lonegan and AFP do not appear to have checked the list of prospective auction bidders, that included Koch Supply and Trading of Wichita, KS, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, AFP’s key backer. Koch traders proudly purchased the very first trade of physical carbon allowances made at a <a target="_blank" class="pdf" href="http://new.evomarkets.com/pdf_documents/Evolution%20Brokers%20First%20RGGI%20Allowance%20Trade.pdf">RGGI auction in 2008</a>.

According to the Albany Times Union, Koch’s traders took part in at least three of RGGI’s first nine credit auctions—including the auction that AFP recently protested as “secretive”. As a Koch Supply and Trading spokesperson said "<a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Protest-profit-from-same-hands-653908.php">Koch has participated in the RGGI</a> market since its inception<a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Protest-profit-from-same-hands-653908.php"> </a>."

Ironically, the <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://climateprogress.org/2011/03/23/mit-david-koch-building-rggi/">David H. Koch Institute </a>at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology has received a fifth of its funding for energy efficiency from the RGGI program.

Despite RGGI’s positive impact on Koch companies and outlets, <a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-16-koch-group-alec-cut-paste-attack-regional-climate-initiatives/">Americans for Prosperity</a> has continued its assault<a target="blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-16-koch-group-alec-cut-paste-attack-regional-climate-initiatives/"> </a>on regional climate initiatives in numerous other states, complimenting the template legislation provided by the American Legislative Exchange Council and cheerleading from the Koch-funded <a target="_blank" class="zoom" href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20110124/greenhousecuts24_st.art.htm">Heritage Foundation</a>.

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RGGI

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