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Northeast States Show Smarts in Attacking Greenhouse Gases ; Maine in Particular Has Much to Gain From a Nine-State Effort to Cut Power Plant Emissions.

Posted on: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

An effort by Maine and eight other states to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from electric power plants could be seen as a rebellion against Washington, but it's revolutionary in its own right.

It is true that, under President Bush, the federal government has resisted hard caps on the emissions that are thought to cause global climate change. Also, Maine and the other states are at odds with the administration over its interpretation of the Clean Air Act. That has some casting an effort by the Northeast states to agree on carbon dioxide standards as an act of defiance.

While frustration with Washington may play a role, it would seem the nine states are negotiating this pact as a matter of common sense and mutual aid.

The agreement now being discussed will allow plants within the states to trade pollution credits. What that means is that a plant that pollutes more than it should can keep operating as usual if it pays someone else to pollute less.

Over time, this will facilitate finding the cheapest possible way to cut pollution. That's because plants that can cut emissions more cheaply will do so to reap fees from the plants that cannot make such changes with ease.

As worldwide concern about climate change grows - and the large number of named tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic is the latest event stirring debate - so, too, will the pressure grow to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

It is smart for Maine and the other states to act in concert to establish a system that will allow for greenhouse gas reductions in an efficient manner. There is, too, the simple benefit derived from cleaner air.

Indeed, as the easternmost state in the group, prevailing winds put Maine in a position to gain much from lower emissions. That's yet another smart reason for the state to be participating in this process.

Source: Portland Press Herald

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