Northeast states already have an agreement to reduce emissions, despite, the U.S. pulling out of the Paris Accord.

No Paris climate accord? No problem, say New England, Mid-Atlantic states

HAMPTON, N.H. - Since President Donald Trump vowed this summer to pull the United States out of an international climate accord, states looking to tackle carbon pollution have been forced to go it alone. More than a dozen formed an alliance committed to reducing emissions in line with the Paris accord, an international agreement that aims to halt the rise in global temperatures.

 Me, "Who says cap and trade is dead? Northeast states don't."

From article, (“The clear signal from the Trump administration that they were going to pull back on environmental policy throws it back at the states and says, ‘OK, it’s your game,'” said William Shobe, a professor of public policy at the University of Virginia. “A number of states are responding, saying, ‘OK, we’re up to that and we’re going to go ahead and implement policy.'”
Others, wanting to be more ambitious, are taking a look at the country’s only regional program that mandates emission reductions in the power sector. Known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, it covers nine states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic and is poised to expand.

The program sets limits on power plant emissions and requires them to purchase allowances equal to the amount of those emissions. Money raised through those allowances at quarterly auctions goes back to the states.

Since it began in 2008, RGGI has led to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent in the states stretching from Maine to Maryland — 16 percent more than other states without emissions programs. The program has also sent $2.8 billion back to the states, money that has funded a range of environmental programs, including energy efficiency upgrades at a middle school and library in Massachusetts, expansion of solar power in New York, and green measures at a brewery in New Hampshire.

Virginia’s climate strategy, approved last month, would limit emissions from most power plants starting in 2020, followed by a 30 percent reduction over a decade. Eligible carbon emitters would have to participate in the regional greenhouse gas program.

“We do not have the luxury of waiting for Washington to wake up to this threat — we must act now,” Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement.

“We have a great success story to tell,” said Katie Scharf Dykes, who chairs the RGGI board and the Connecticut public utilities agency. “At this moment, this story is more relevant than ever before.”)


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