New York, RGGI states seek to cut emissions another 30 percent by 2030

New York is among nine states proposing to reduce the cap on power-plant emissions an additional 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.

The states involved are part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and their effort seeks to lower CO2 emissions, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a news release issued Aug. 23.

It “fulfills” Cuomo’s State of the State challenge to the RGGI states to “further strengthen” the RGGI program, which the member states contend “yields environmental, health, and economic benefits.” 

With this program update, the regional cap in 2030 will be 65 percent below the 2009 starting level, Cuomo’s office said.

New York, along with eight other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States in the RGGI, are part of the nation’s first program to use what they say is an “innovative market-based mechanism to cap and cost-effectively reduce” carbon-dioxide emissions involved in climate change. The group is comprised of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. RGGI, Inc. is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that supports development and implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The regional cap-and-trade initiative requires that power plants in the participating states pay for the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere. Prices are determined in auctions, based on a number of factors.

RGGI contributed to a nearly 50 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions from affected power plants in New York, and a 90 percent reduction in coal-fired power generation in the state, Cuomo’s release stated.

To date, New York says it has generated more than $1 billion in RGGI proceeds, which help fund energy-efficiency, clean-energy, and emission-reduction programs. 

Cuomo in 2013 led the RGGI states in reducing the emission cap 50 percent by 2020. RGGI “continues to exceed expectations” and has provided more than $2 billion in regional economic benefits and $5.7 billion in public-health benefits while reducing emissions “in excess” of the declining cap’s requirements, he contends.

“The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has been an incredible success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change in New York and the Northeast, while supporting thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investments in sustainable development projects,” Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said in the news release. 

Support for the program

In a statement released Aug. 23, Conor Bambrick, air & energy director at Environmental Advocates of New York, said the organization applauds the RGGI proposal.

“New York and RGGI states are demonstrating that climate leadership is not simply maintaining the status quo … it can’t be when the U.S. is pulling out of the Paris Agreement, and the Environmental Protection Agency is being dismantled from within. Climate leadership is about taking it to the next level, driving even deeper cuts into dangerous pollution, and setting a standard for the rest of the nation to follow,” said Bambrick. 

Environmental Advocates of New York is an Albany–based nonprofit organization that says it seeks to “protect” New York’s air, land, water, wildlife, and the “health of all New Yorkers.” The group says it monitors state government, evaluates proposed laws, and supports policies and practices that will “ensure the responsible stewardship of our shared environment.”

Criticism of the program

Critics of RGGI say it has not produced the emissions reductions and health benefits that its advocates say it has, while increasing energy costs and costing jobs.

A Cato Institute paper by David Stevenson (https://www.cato.org/publications/working-paper/review-regional-green-gas-initiative) issued Aug. 10 made the following conclusions:

• The RGGI program produced no added emissions reductions or associated health benefits

• Spending of RGGI revenue on energy efficiency, wind, solar power, and low-income fuel assistance had minimal impact

• RGGI allowance costs added to already high regional electric bills. The combined pricing impact resulted in a 13 percent drop in goods production and a 35 percent drop in the production of energy intensive goods. Comparison states increased goods production by 15 percent and only lost 4 percent of energy-intensive manufacturing. 

Stevenson also contends that RGGI has “shifted jobs to other states” not participating in the program. He is director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness at the Caesar Rodney Institute, a free market think-tank in Delaware, one of the nine states participating in RGGI. The Cato Institute is a national think-tank that says it is “dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.”          

New York is among nine states proposing to reduce the cap on power-plant emissions an additional 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.

The states involved are part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and their effort seeks to lower CO2 emissions, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a news release issued Aug. 23.

It “fulfills” Cuomo’s State of the State challenge to the RGGI states to “further strengthen” the RGGI program, which the member states contend “yields environmental, health, and economic benefits.” 

With this program update, the regional cap in 2030 will be 65 percent below the 2009 starting level, Cuomo’s office said.

New York, along with eight other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States in the RGGI, are part of the nation’s first program to use what they say is an “innovative market-based mechanism to cap and cost-effectively reduce” carbon-dioxide emissions involved in climate change. The group is comprised of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. RGGI, Inc. is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that supports development and implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The regional cap-and-trade initiative requires that power plants in the participating states pay for the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere. Prices are determined in auctions, based on a number of factors.

RGGI contributed to a nearly 50 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions from affected power plants in New York, and a 90 percent reduction in coal-fired power generation in the state, Cuomo’s release stated.

To date, New York says it has generated more than $1 billion in RGGI proceeds, which help fund energy-efficiency, clean-energy, and emission-reduction programs. 

Cuomo in 2013 led the RGGI states in reducing the emission cap 50 percent by 2020. RGGI “continues to exceed expectations” and has provided more than $2 billion in regional economic benefits and $5.7 billion in public-health benefits while reducing emissions “in excess” of the declining cap’s requirements, he contends.

“The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has been an incredible success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change in New York and the Northeast, while supporting thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investments in sustainable development projects,” Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said in the news release. 

Support for the program

In a statement released Aug. 23, Conor Bambrick, air & energy director at Environmental Advocates of New York, said the organization applauds the RGGI proposal.

“New York and RGGI states are demonstrating that climate leadership is not simply maintaining the status quo … it can’t be when the U.S. is pulling out of the Paris Agreement, and the Environmental Protection Agency is being dismantled from within. Climate leadership is about taking it to the next level, driving even deeper cuts into dangerous pollution, and setting a standard for the rest of the nation to follow,” said Bambrick. 

Environmental Advocates of New York is an Albany–based nonprofit organization that says it seeks to “protect” New York’s air, land, water, wildlife, and the “health of all New Yorkers.” The group says it monitors state government, evaluates proposed laws, and supports policies and practices that will “ensure the responsible stewardship of our shared environment.”

Criticism of the program

Critics of RGGI say it has not produced the emissions reductions and health benefits that its advocates say it has, while increasing energy costs and costing jobs.

A Cato Institute paper by David Stevenson (https://www.cato.org/publications/working-paper/review-regional-green-gas-initiative) issued Aug. 10 made the following conclusions:

• The RGGI program produced no added emissions reductions or associated health benefits

• Spending of RGGI revenue on energy efficiency, wind, solar power, and low-income fuel assistance had minimal impact

• RGGI allowance costs added to already high regional electric bills. The combined pricing impact resulted in a 13 percent drop in goods production and a 35 percent drop in the production of energy intensive goods. Comparison states increased goods production by 15 percent and only lost 4 percent of energy-intensive manufacturing. 

Stevenson also contends that RGGI has “shifted jobs to other states” not participating in the program. He is director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness at the Caesar Rodney Institute, a free market think-tank in Delaware, one of the nine states participating in RGGI. The Cato Institute is a national think-tank that says it is “dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.”