The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has posted for comment proposed regulations regarding a budget trading program designed to stabilize and reduce CO2 emissions in what it believed to be an economically efficient manner.
On December 20, 2005, New York State entered into a regional agreement to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants, a step to meet the significant challenge of climate change. Under the agreement, the governors of 10 Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states have committed to propose the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a program to cap and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants in the region by 10 percent by 2019, for adoption in their states. The proposed new regulations are designed to further this goal.
As proposed, the Statewide CO2 Budget Trading Program base budget is 64,310,805 tons per year for the first two control periods (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). The base budget would decrease thereafter. DEC will allocate most of the CO2 Budget Trading Program base budget to the energy efficiency and clean energy technology account which will be administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The proceeds of the auction or auctions will be used to promote the purposes of the energy efficiency and clean technology account and for administrative costs associated with the CO2 Budget Trading Program. The department will also include a voluntary renewable energy market and long term contract set-aside allocation. The regulations contain details on how the auction is to be run.
The proposed rulemaking also includes a draft generic environmental impact state full of information and data about climate change. These documents are worth a read.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/38974.html
