State and Local Governments are Taking the
Leadership on Addressing Climate Change
Tuesday, September 28th,
2004
2:00-3:30 PM 2318 Rayburn House Office Building
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute invites you to a
Congressional briefing discussing state and local government
initiatives underway to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases at
the city, state, and regional level. Although the Federal
Government has taken no steps to require reductions in greenhouse
gas emissions, the Climate Stewardship Act (S. 139 and H.R. 4067)
is pending before the Congress. In contrast, steps are being taken
by a number of state and local governments. The briefing panel is
composed of state and local government officials involved with
regional initiatives, agreements among Governors, State Attorney
General Lawsuits, and a Mayor’s statement on climate change, all
of which are taking leadership to address climate change.
Briefing Panel:
Mayor R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis, MN (Handout)
Peter Lehner, Chief, Environmental Protection Bureau, New
York Attorney General’s Office
Sonia Hamel, Special Assistant, Massachusetts Office of
Commonwealth Development (Presentation)
Amit Ronen, Legislative Assistant, Senator Maria Cantwell
(D-WA) (Handout)
At the local level, over 155 Mayors, representing more than 46
million people, issued a statement on October 21, 2003 urging the
Federal Government "to focus attention and policy efforts on
[global warming]." Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis was one of
the four initial signatories to this important statement. Many of
these Mayors are among the 149 local governments participating in
the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, a program of the
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
A number of regional U.S. efforts are underway. The New England
Governor’s and Eastern Canadian Premiers released a climate
action plan after their annual meeting in August 2001 outlining
the need for regional coordination to mitigate growing carbon
emissions. Their agreed upon long-term goal is to reduce emissions
by 75-80 percent below current levels. Following in that vein New
York Governor George Pataki invited ten Governors from Northeast
and Mid-Atlantic States in April of 2003 to join in a joint
cap-and-trade program for their power sectors dubbed the ‘Regional
Greenhouse Gas Inititiative’ (RGGI). Nine states have signed on
(MA, CT, DE, ME, NH, NJ, NY, RI, and VT). In addition, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the Eastern Canadian
Provinces currently are acting as observers of the process.
missions in their region. In September 2003 these states
convened a West Coast Governors’ Challenge during which all
three states committed to procure more fuel efficient vehicles,
reduce their use of diesel fuel in ships, create incentives for
renewable energy, upgrade energy efficiency standards, and improve
their greenhouse gas emissions inventories.
On June 21, 2004 eight states (CA, CT, NY, IA, NJ, RI, VT, and
WI) and New York City filed a ‘public nuisance’ lawsuit on the
country’s five largest power companies (American Electric Power,
Southern Company, Xcel Energy, Cinergy Corporation and the
Tennessee Valley Authority) due to their combined annual emissions
of 652 million tons of CO2, roughly 10 percent of the nations
total emissions and 25 percent of U.S. power plant emissions. The
suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of New York as a
reaction to the Federal Government’s unwillingness to mandate
greenhouse gas reductions. The existing voluntary emissions
reporting program under Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act
of 1992 has not elicited a strong market response and therefore
has not brought about a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
The briefing is open to the public and no reservations are
required. Please feel free to forward this notice. If there is
significant interest, a DVD of the event will be made available
for $15. For more information, please contact Alexandra Morel
at 202/ 662-1885 or amorel@eesi.org
