Tag: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

Virginia nets more than $43 million in first carbon allowance auction

Virginia Mercury: Virginia nets more than $43 million in first carbon allowance auction.

Virginia netted more than $43 million from the first carbon allowance auction the state has participated in since joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an 11-state carbon market that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by putting a price on them.

In total, Virginia’s proceeds from the March 5 auction amounted to $43,589,868.40. If the three other auctions scheduled to occur this year — at three-month intervals — pull in comparable proceeds, Virginia’s revenues could be more than $174 million — far above the state’s estimate of $106 to $109 million.

Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next.

Virginia Mercury discusses RGGI. Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next.

A year after Republican resistance stalled Virginia’s effort to cap carbon emissions from large producers of the greenhouse gas at the forefront of climate change, the wheels are again in motion: Virginia is joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Joining the cap-and-invest program was one of Democrats’ top legislative priorities for the 2020 General Assembly session. Thanks to their majorities in both the House of Delegates and the Senate, they achieved their goal on mostly, but not quite, party-line votes. Gov. Ralph Northam has also supported the state’s participation, although several technical amendments he’s proposed related to fund administration still have to be approved by the reconvened General Assembly next week.

“By joining RGGI, Virginia will take part in a proven, market-based program for reducing carbon pollution in a manner that protects consumers,” Northam said in a statement Sunday. “I am proposing important refinements and I look forward to signing it into law soon.”

 

Virginia Just Created an Energy Storage Market Out of Thin Air

Green Tech Media discusses how Virginia created an energy storage market by recently-passed legislation. A new energy bill makes Virginia a market to watch. “Last year, we were talking about pilots; this year, we’re talking about 2.7 gigawatts.”

Virginia, as it stands today, can hardly be called an energy storage market. But its legislature just passed a clean-energy omnibus bill so comprehensive and thorough that, almost overnight, it converted the state into a storage market to watch.

Richmond’s entry sets a new standard for ambitious clean energy policy. Not only does it call for closing fossil-fueled plants by midcentury, but it also introduces energy-efficiency savings targets for the first time in the state’s history, ramps onshore renewables by 16 gigawatts, targets 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2034, lifts caps on distributed generation, and commits the state to joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

 

Tim O’Mara: RGGI provides a path to protect kids’ health

Pilot OnLine opinion piece by Tim O’Mara discusses why RGGI provides a path to protect kids’ health. Healthy children need a healthy planet. Pediatricians are leading the medical community in support of policies that will ensure a bright future for our patients. Tim O’Mara , MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician in Fairfax who serves on the climate change committee of the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In 2020, we know that this includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet and pollute the air our kids breathe. That is why the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is proud to have strongly supported Virginia’s joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. This policy protects our patients’ health today and their future tomorrow.

Yale Climate Connections, January 17, 2020

This week’s articles include:

  1. ‘The Climate Trail’: Survival game pits players against climate catastrophe
  2. ‘Cranky Uncle’ smart phone game will show you how to disarm climate deniers
  3. Power plant emissions down 47% under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
  4. How climate change influenced Australia’s unprecedented fires
  5. Australia’s heat and bushfires are signs of fundamental shifts in its climate
  6. Residents of Midlothian, Illinois, fight back against ‘terrifying’ floods
  7. Cleaning up the air in China could save lives
  8. Virginia Tech theater project helps people visualize flood scenarios
  9. California’s high housing prices drive development in risky fire zones
  10. Economist: Electric vehicles likely to be as cheap as conventional cars by 2025

Northeast states takes first step in effort to reduce transportation emissions

This The Hill article discusses how some Northeast states have taken a first step to try and reduce transportation emissions.

A coalition of New England and mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday took a first step toward limiting transportation emissions across 13 states.

At the heart of the draft proposal is an effort that would place pollution limits on middlemen who bring gasoline to U.S. consumers, forcing those companies to buy credits to compensate for pollution that will stem from their products.

The effort, known as the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), is based on another similar regional cap and trade initiative known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI limits pollution from power plants, forcing utilities to pay if they exceed the caps.

States from Maine to Virginia are banding together to form a similar cooperative, but instead of power plants their efforts will be focused on oil terminals that store fuel before it heads to market as well distributors of gasoline.

Members of TCI are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia as well as the District of Columbia.

Virginia becomes first southern state to cap carbon: Will GOP budget language hamstring the program?

This article discusses how Virginia may become first southern state to cap carbon. But, will GOP budget language hamstring the program?

Despite state budget language that remains in place and could cripple the program, the State Air Pollution Control Board approved a new carbon rule Friday that links Virginia to a network of carbon-trading states.

“We have full authority to move forward at this point,” said David Paylor, director of the Department of Environmental Quality. “The governor is considering all options.”

Gov. Ralph Northam has until May 3 to veto budget language that prohibits the use of state money to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or spend proceeds from RGGI without legislative approval.

Northam vetoes two bills he says would restrict his options on climate change

This article discusses two bills that were vetoed by Virginia Governor Northam because they would restrict his options on curbing carbon emissions from power plants and vehicles.

The proposals, both introduced by Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County, would have barred the state from entering two regional programs aimed at reducing carbon dioxide air pollution.

State environmental officials have already kick-started the process to join the regional programs. New state regulation to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and some industrial facilities that burn fossil fuels is in its final stages.