Maine is on track as a leader in tackling climate change, as lawmakers were receptive to comments favoring the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative at a public hearing in Augusta this week.
That's a good thing, because bold initiative is exactly what's needed in a battle with high stakes.
RGGI -- get used to hearing it as "Reggie" -- is aimed at reducing the output of carbon dioxide by power plants. It is a coalition of 10 Northeast states -- the first of its kind in the United States -- that will agree to limit those greenhouse-gas emissions with an eventual goal of reducing that output by 10 percent by 2019.
One reason to support the RGGI initiative is that it was created by negotiations among power plants, large-volume electricity users and environmental advocates. It isn't often that business interests and environmental advocates tend to agree, but in this case the consensus is that Maine, and the region, will benefit.
Another reason to support RGGI is that it is a motivator for power plants to increase efficiency. Under so-called cap-and-trade agreements, power plants purchase pollution "credits" based on their current emission levels. In other words, those credits allow a plant to emit a set level of carbon dioxide.
If a plant increases its efficiency, thus producing less carbon dioxide, it no longer needs those credits and can sell them to a plant that may have increased its output but not its efficiency.
As legislators in Augusta have noted, this is a market-driven concept. It has promise because it poses real financial incentives.
RGGI is also a good plan for Maine because the money paid by power plants for its carbon credits goes into a conservation pool, the Maine Energy and Carbon Savings Trust Fund. That pot of money is to be used for grants to energy-efficiency projects and other conservation programs. Any assists to conservation and efficiency are worthwhile because those factors reduce demand, cost and emissions.
It will, however, be a balancing act for the state to calculate how much of its RGGI revenue it wants to plow into conservation initiatives and how much it wants to turn back to keep rates lower.
Yes, funding for efficiency research and conservation projects will provide long-term benefit, but it should be noted that ratepayers in Maine can only be expected to do so much, especially at a time when power costs are increasing.
