Q1 Update 2007

Quarter 1 Update

January, February, March 2007

Clean Air Connecticut

Energy Action

Two States Join RGGI

Protecting Our Forest Economy

 

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Please keep reading for more on our recent work and news about energy, climate, and clean air in the Northeast.

Clean Air Connecticut

In a victory for ENE and its partners in the Connecticut Alliance Against Diesel Pollution (CAADP), the Connecticut General Assembly's Environment Committee recently approved a proposal that would dedicate $11 million to retrofitting all of the state's school buses with pollution control equipment. The Environmental Committee agreed to review the proposal in response to an emergent call for action from the public and Governor Rell's administration. ENE recently participated in a school bus pollution monitoring event. Several legislators, advocates and community members gathered outside the Hartford LOB for a demonstration of a diesel filtration system and heard statements from some of the bill's champions. The event was well attended and received extensive print, radio and television coverage.

Energy Action

Tapping in to clean, local sources of energy is one way states can both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen their economies. Conservation and efficiency programs, combined heat and power (CHP) and distributed generation (DG) are all sustainable alternatives to expensive, polluting fossil fuels. On the heels of its success in Rhode Island, ENE is leading efforts to develop and implement similar policies in other states. In Maine, ENE contributed the policy language and analysis for a bill that:

  • requires the PUC to make investments that will realize all available cost effective efficiency;
  • directs proceeds of RGGI credit auctions (likely $10-25 million per year) to be deposited in the newly established Energy and Carbon Savings Trust; and,
  • establishes the Maine Energy Conservation Board, which will work with the PUC and the Trust to create a 3-year plan for promoting quality efficiency programs.

The bill, L.D. 1851, passed the Utilities and Energy Committee unanimously and will face a vote on the floor of the House and Senate soon.

ENE has met extensively with major electric utilities and other stakeholders to develop and advance energy platforms in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Policy priorities include:

  • requiring utilities to purchase efficiency when it is cheaper than traditional supply;
  • standards to increase the supply of CHP, DG and renewables;
  • decoupling revenues from sales to remove disincentives for efficiency; and,
  • establishing stakeholder boards to plan and ensure procurement of all cost-effective, demand-side resources.

Two States Join RGGI

One of Deval Patrick's first moves as governor was to bring Massachusetts into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Days later, in his State-of-the-State address, Governor Carcieri announced that Rhode Island would follow suit, bringing the number of states in the cap-and-trade agreement to nine (Maryland joined in April, making the number 10). Governors Patrick and Carcieri's actions are important progress both for the RGGI program and for Massachusetts and Rhode Island's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ENE will continue to work with stakeholders in these two states, Maine, and Connecticut to implement RGGI rules and develop climate plans and policies that provide economic and environmental benefits.
 

Protecting Our Forest Economy

Forests play an important economic and ecological role in the Northeast, and there is growing concern that this resource might be threatened by climate change. ENE is collaborating with the Maine Forest Service to research ways that forest management practices can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and economically benefit landowners. For example,  some forest management schemes can increase carbon storage, earning woodlot owners credits that could be sold in an offsets market. Also, sustainably harvested wood products could be sold as a renewable source of energy to replace fossil fuels. ENE recently hired new staff to direct its forestry projects and to identify opportunities for integrating forest management practices into climate planning and policy.