PROVIDENCE,
R.I. --A regional effort that would require power plants in the
Northeast to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is still in the working
stages, with no final agreement imminent, a participant said.
The
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has been working since 2003 on what
would be the first multistate plan in the nation to reduce emissions of
carbon dioxide, considered a leading cause of global warming.
Representatives from nine Northeast states concluded two days of
meetings on Thursday, and, despite reports that a final agreement may
be ready, decided that discussions would continue.
"I
think it's accurate to describe it as an exceptionally complex
process," said W. Michael Sullivan, director of the Rhode Island
Department of Environmental Management who was at the meetings. "At
this point, we're still in the discussion explanation and fact-finding
framework." Sullivan would not say whether there were disagreements
among states at the discussions. He said officials in the meetings --
which included the head of each state's environmental agency -- remain
upbeat an agreement can be reached. A conference call has been
scheduled for next month to discuss progress and perhaps schedule the
next meeting, Sullivan said.
The states involved include the six New England states along with Delaware, New York and New Jersey.
Environmental
groups were following the proceedings, even though they were closed to
the public. Matt Auten, advocate for the Rhode Island Public Interest
Research Group, said his and other environmental organizations remain
optimistic a reduction plan will be achieved.
"It's positive that the states are meeting," he said.
Such
an agreement would be the first of its kind in the nation and comes
after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse
gases that contribute to global warming and rejected joining more than
150 other nations on the Kyoto anti-emissions treaty.
A
proposal from the RGGI staff in August would freeze carbon dioxide
emissions at current levels through 2015, then require a 10 percent
reduction by 2020.
This
week, 27 environmental and consumer organizations wrote RGGI, saying
they want reductions to occur before 2015, with deeper cuts by 2020 and
continued reductions after that.
They
also want to make sure generators can't substitute other
environmentally beneficial projects -- such as planting trees -- for
carbon dioxide cuts.
"If
the goal is to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, it
should do just that," said Chris Wilhite, a campaign organizer for
Clean Water Action in Rhode Island.
The
groups also said they were concerned about the RGGI staff proposal that
they say could allow polluting energy sources to be imported even as
reductions in carbon dioxide emissions are being made.
