carbon Archives

Dec 17, 2020

Ten Northeastern States to Divide $120,300,000 in Proceeds from Cap and Trade Program

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI”), a multistate Cap and Trade Program, sold carbon allowances for $7.41 in the final quarter of 2020 – recognizing revenue of $120,300,000 which can be used to reinvest in energy efficiency and renewable programs in the 10 participating northeastern states. Participating states have benefited from RGGI’s bipartisan, market-based approach to climate change, while consumers across participating states have benefited from local investments in clean energy and efficiency. Prices for carbon allowances are expected to grow as more states petition to join RGGI, and as more states attempt to “decarbonize” their energy production. For more… Read more

Sep 23, 2020

Bipartisan House Plan Proposes Significant Investment in Clean Energy Infrastructure

A House Bipartisan proposal, which is expected later this week, aims to invest significantly in clean energy infrastructure technology and tax incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30 years. The House Bill would create a clean electricity standard for the power sector designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. The standard calls for expanded resources for technology for carbon capture, use and storage, and would establish a revamped regulatory framework to modernize the energy grid. The Bill would shift enforcement of power sector carbon dioxide emissions from the Clean Air Act to the policy… Read more

Oct 23, 2015

24 States File Legal Challenge to EPA Clean Power Plan Rule

The U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan was published as a final rule in the Federal Register today and a coalition of twenty-four states, including Georgia, immediately filed a lawsuit in the D.C. Court of Appeals challenging the legality of the Rule. The EPA’s Plan calls for a 32% nationwide reduction (as compared to 2005 levels) in the power sector’s carbon emissions by 2030 with specific reduction requirements for individual states. The twenty-four states contend that the EPA’s Plan exceeds EPA’s regulatory authority under the federal Clean Air Act. Fifteen other states have previously announced their intention to intervene in support… Read more

Jan 16, 2015

EPA Proposes to Allow Biomass Energy as GHG Control

On November 19, EPA released a policy memo that allows states to rely on energy generated from “waste-derived and certain forest-derived industrial byproduct feedstocks” as tools for compliance with EPA’s proposed existing source performance standards (ESPS) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The memo announced that EPA will propose a rule exempting waste and “sustainably derived” biomass from best available control technology (BACT) requirements in stationary source permits, and will revise its prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) rules to “include an exemption from the [BACT] requirement for GHGs from waste-derived feedstocks and from non-waste biogenic feedstocks derived from sustainable forest or… Read more

Oct 6, 2014

Regional Grid Operators Consider a Price on Carbon

Regulations proposed by EPA under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act for the control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing sources would require States to meet assigned GHG reduction targets by deadlines set forth in the proposed regulations. States can either submit individual plans for meeting those reductions or participate in regional plans. The operators of two of the largest electricity grids in the country are evaluating whether to approach the targets regionally within their territories by, among other things, studying whether imposing a price on GHG emissions within the region might be the most efficient way to… Read more