Deval Patrick - MA Will Join Northeastern State-Level GHG Program

[hatrack]

BOSTON - Gov. Deval Patrick, making good on a campaign pledge, will announce Thursday that Massachusetts will join the nation's first multistate program to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is designed to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 10 percent by 2019. It has already been signed by governors from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. Former Gov. Mitt Romney opted out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in 2005, saying it could drive up energy costs for consumers.

Patrick was scheduled to make the announcement at an afternoon news conference with state Secretary of Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, according to a Patrick aide who did not want to be identified ahead of the formal announcement.

The main goal of the bipartisan RGGI is to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. As part of the program, the states are set to begin charging power plants fees for carbon dioxide emissions beginning in 2009.

EDIT

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/special/011807special6.htm

[illinoisprogressive]

1. I've heard that Gov. Patrick is great. They have great hopes for him in Mass.