I would like to thank Chairman John Martin, Chairman Phil Bartlett, Chairman Ted Koffman, Chairman Larry Bliss and distinguished members of the Natural Resources and Utilities and Energy Committees for the chance to testify in favor of LD 1851, An Act to Establish the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Act of 2007. Environment Maine is a statewide environmental group advocating clean air, clean water and open spaces on behalf of over 3,500 members statewide.
The historic agreement between the Northeast states embodied in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is important for many reasons, starting with the reductions in global warming pollution from power plants. Although global warming is a huge problem, the banding together of the Northeast states has meant the program will address a significant contribution of the United States’ total global warming emissions. Starting with the power sector, one of the biggest sources of global warming pollution in the Northeast, and the biggest source in the country, means that these states from Maryland north to Maine will be tackling a big chunk of the problem.
According to Environment Maine Research & Policy Center’s recent report, The Carbon Boom, the states of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine released 625.4 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in the year 2004, an increase from 577.3 in 1990. This ranks our ten-state region seventh in the world for total global warming emissions, beating out Canada and the United Kingdom. The increased global warming pollution from power plants over this period of time accounted for about 37 percent of the total global warming pollution increase. This clearly debunks the arguments of some detractors of RGGI who claim that Maine contributes little to the problem of global warming, or how little this agreement will deal with the emissions of the United States. The RGGI region is a big contributor of global warming emissions, and by joining the group, Maine is helping put more pressure on other states to join, cut emissions or join other alliances in their region.
The Northeast RGGI agreement has also set the tone for other regional efforts, and stimulated other governors to band together to tackle emissions of global warming pollution. Governors of both the West Coast, and the Rocky Mountain West are developing collaborations inspired by and pressured by the action of the Northeast under RGGI. Meanwhile, the Northeast states’ agreement is also helping drive Congress to act. Implementing RGGI here in Maine will have positive repercussions beyond our state and beyond our region.
I would like to reiterate Environment Maine’s support of LD 1851 and the implementation of RGGI here in Maine, and thank the committees for the opportunity to speak.
