Northeast Global Warning Cap-and-Trade System Could Exacerbate Emissions by Encouraging More Coal Power. Press Release, Union of Concerned Scientists, December 19, 2008. "The Northeast's cap-and-trade system for global warming pollution -- the first of its kind in the nation -- will be compromised unless utilities are prevented from importing additional coal-fired electricity, according to a report [Importing Pollution: Coal's Threat to Climate Policy in the U.S. Northeast, 44 pp] released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists [UCS]. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [RGGI], which applies to power plants in 10 Northeastern states, does not preclude the utilities that supply electricity to Northeast homes and businesses from buying more electricity from coal-fired power plants outside the region. That could increase the carbon dioxide emissions from those plants outside the region, offsetting emissions reductions under RGGI... John Rogers, a UCS clean energy analyst and co-author of the report, said, 'To ensure the initiative fulfills its potential, however, participating states must make sure that the region's utilities don't buy additional coal-based electricity from outside the region.' Beginning January 1, a cap will go into effect on the total carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the 10 RGGI states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The total amount of emissions allowed from all plants -- approximately 188 million tons -- will remain the same each year through 2014, followed by a 10 percent decrease over the next four years."
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