Wednesday, April 25, 2007
By JOHN RICHARDSON
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA - The debate about how to fight global climate change moved to the Legislature on Tuesday as lawmakers took up a proposal for Maine to join the nation's first multi-state effort to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
Environmentalists and academic experts, as well as power generators and manufacturers, urged lawmakers to support the plan, which would create a pollution trading market in Maine and nine other Eastern states.
"If we are going to tackle the problem globally, we have to start with our own state," said George Jacobson, a professor at the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute, at a public hearing held by the Natural Resources and Utilities and Energy committees.
A few opponents also weighed in, saying the plan would do little, if anything, to keep the planet from warming. Some warned that the plan could add to the cost of electricity in Maine.
The plan, negotiated by power generators, environmentalists and others, would require the owners of Maine's six largest power plants to pay for the right to release carbon dioxide -- a heat-trapping byproduct of fossil fuel combustion.
The money they paid to the state would be given out in grants to promote energy efficiency and conservation.
Gov. John Baldacci has pledged to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. It is up to the Legislature to approve details of the state's plan.
Power plants in the region would trade pollution allowances, giving them an incentive to cut pollution and sell the allowances to plants that need them.
"It unleashes the power of the business community to cut costs to innovate and lead us into the future," said Thomas Tietenberg, a professor at Colby College.
Participating states would freeze power plant emissions from 2009 to 2015, then reduce them 10 percent by 2019. Emissions would otherwise increase about 25 percent over that period, officials said.
"It's the dawning of a new day in our economy," said Rep. Ted Koffman, D-Bar Harbor, a sponsor of the bill.
Koffman and others said creating a national model would give Maine and the other states an economic advantage.
"We exist in a new generation now and I believe we're ready for this bill," said Sen. Dana Dow, R-Waldoboro.
A key factor for lawmakers will be the plan's impact on electricity customers here.
Power costs are expected to rise 1 percent to 2 percent in the short term. The increase is likely to occur whether or not Maine participates, because prices here are set in neighboring states that produce more power.
Over time, advocates say, prices will fall because of efficiency improvements and lower peak demands. "This bill improves Maine's ability to manage and reduce our costs," said Michael Stoddard, a lawyer for Energy Northeast, a nonprofit environmental advocate. It also "will change and clean up the kind of power plants we use to make electricity."
A representative of Central Maine Power Co. said the company supports the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions but opposes the Maine plan because it could raise costs for Maine customers.
"Nobody here can yet predict exactly what it's going to cost customers," said David Allen.
Allen opposed parts of the plan that would use revenue from increased energy costs to pay for energy-efficiency programs. "It doesn't save all customers money. It may save some customers some money," he said.
Other opponents simply said the plan won't stop climate change on the global scale.
"Tell us how much global warming -- this apocalyptic problem -- we are preventing," said Jon Reisman, an associate professor at the University of Maine at Machias. "It's not good for Maine citizens to suggest we're going to do something about global warming when we're not."
Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:
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FYI The gloom and doom of climate change is consistent with the liberal agenda of destroying progress and capitalism. Remember folks the people that are pushing the Iraq Defeat Plan think that if we just talk to these dictators everyone will be okay. They are the same people that had a love affair with the Soviet Union. Never mind the stock market went to an all time high. If Cherrie or Gore were President well it would be the greatest thing ever.report abuse
Somewhat ironically, BNAS has some of the most efficient and low emissions aircraft in the world.
Why? satelites track & target high flying aircraft by their contrails, including B1 bombers.
Why do you think the RUSSIANS, with tens of thousands of space observation hours looking for US bombers know so much about the characteristics of the upper atmosphere? report abuse
You're right a'one size theory' doesn't fit all climate change'.
The watershed study was the one which revealed that after all air traffic was halted for nearly a week after 9/11; diurnal temps changed a full degree! WOW...talk about climate engineering showing fast results. The study was widely discussed by many including the influential George Monbiot of the GUARDIAN.
Read it for yourself at http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1877388,00.html report abuse
However what is the point of taxing aviation landing in Maine? All that will do is result in higher fares and you and I both know,just like the Gas tax was to fund highway repairs and it never happened(thus these never ending bond requests) this tax will find another home before you can say AlGore!~report abuse
The case is so convincing that the European Union is in the process of taxing $$ all aircraft emissions; and ZURICH has set ceilings so planes don't make contrails.
You can pick it apart, as climate skeptics are expected to do; but it's water vapour that's the culprit along with CO2---and a far more dangerous element to put into greenhouse gases.
I will go so far as to say that the primary reason CO2 is in the Global warming discussion, is not the science, but the politics set by the european universities that organized KYOTO to strangle western industry by regulating emissions. It is a left wing political agenda propped up by some science.
It's the rational GREENS in Europe who are leading the charge...are they all wrong to have such a profound influence on climate policy in UK and other countries?
When LUFTHANSA opposed 'Cap n' Trade' they realized that both British and German aviation now have a significant advantage over the US in the design of Low Emissions Aircraft; so by stopping carbon trading they force the US makers to adopt THEIR technology. The European Union regulations do the same. hint...BOEING just put in an order for ROLLS ROYCE engines, and Branson invested $25 m. into a 'prize' for emission's reducing technologies----who do you think will profit from the discoveries...Us or them?
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I also think it's overly simplistic to think you can apply all climate theories universally. The North American land mass and wind patterns are different enough from Europe that it's dangerous to make the leap of faith that their root cause equals ours. Keep in mind that because of the high price they pay for fuel, the europeans have had much stricter fuel economy standards than we have here.report abuse
I presented the now-established view in Europe that Aviation plays a critical role in preventing the earth's heat from being radiated back into outer space because of WATER VAPOUR emissions.
NASA calls WATER VAPOUR the '800 lb. gorilla' in global warming; yet REGI ignores it.
WATER VAPOUR is 23x more reflective of the earth's heat than CO2.
WATER VAPOUR makes up 90% of the Stratosphere--you only need a high school chem. class to realize that CO2 molecues are heavier than air and stay close to the ground; the greenhouse(reflective) gas layer starts around 25,000 ft. Adding water vapour into that layer nearly caps heat emissions, especially when the aerosel freezes into contrails.
Critical cooling occurs at night, no sun shine folks; and the temp. difference is called the diurnal temps.
Over the past fifty years aviation traffic in the Northern hemisphere has skyrocketed, pouring millions of tons of both CO2--remember it sinks down because it is heavier, and water vapour into the greenhouse layer.
Over the same period, Temps. have risen in the N. Hemisphere....I connected the dots for the Natural Resources Committee yesterday and some lights went on!
I gave them some amendments..including taxing aviation landing in Maine, setting a ceiling for planes flying over Maine like Zurich does, and including water vapour in regulated pollutants.
A forester suggested opening up options in the legislation to include carbon sequestion by planting more trees.
The Committee was listening, but the media wasn't, senses dulled by the drumbeat from the NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE, and the mesmerizing drone from Commissioner Littel predicting catastrophic events.
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