Pact to Cut Emissions Could Set Tone for Nation

The phrase, "as goes Maine, so goes the nation" is at best a bit of optimistic hyperbole from a bygone era. Maine, after all, is a small state and in the last two presidential contests hasn’t endorsed the winner.

More promising, however, is the notion that, "as goes the Northeast, so might the rest of the nation follow." Such is the case with an agreement being forged among Maine and eight other states in the region to cut emissions from electric power plants.

According to a New York Times story on Wednesday, the Northeastern states are taking the initiative to reduce emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming. In addition to Maine, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont are involved in the discussions. A final agreement has not been reached, but the Times said the states are close to reaching one.

The report said that the goal being discussed is to keep air pollution from electric power plants in the region stable through 2015 and then achieve a reduction in those emissions over the next five years.

Some environmental groups have reacted saying the goal is not an especially aggressive one, but others have had the sense to recognize that any attempt to cap and then cut emissions is a vast improvement over the status quo.

President Bush has resisted attempts to bring the United States under international treaties that call for aggressive action to curb the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. On another front, an ongoing legal battle waged by Maine and other states in the region to get Midwestern states to cut emissions that drift eastward has not yielded results.

Committing to capping and then reducing emissions from power plants could end up raising the cost of electric power in the Northeast. The hope, however, is that those costs can be mitigated through subsidies and more aggressive development of alternative generating methods.

The big benefit for Maine and the other states is seizing the high ground in the debate over curbing emissions. It’s going to be a lot easier for the Northeastern states to argue for stricter controls on Midwestern power plants if those Northeastern states are taking aggressive steps to cut their emissions.

While there is room for debate on how much emissions can be cut and at what cost, it’s also clear that technology exists today that can make generating electricity a cleaner enterprise. That goal is well worth pursuing.