Northeast emissions (cap and trade) project plots course for national plan

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=287298&ac=PHnws

A one-year-old regional experiment with carbon cap-and-trade has so far generated $13.5 million for energy conservation efforts in Maine. But it could ultimately have a far bigger impact, in Maine and nationwide.

A much more ambitious cap-and-trade plan introduced to the U.S. Senate last week is based, at least in part, on the lessons learned here.

"The hope ... was that it would influence the national policy," said Thomas Tietenberg, a retired Colby College economics professor who helped develop Maine's piece of the program. "And I think it did."

Maine was one of 10 states to create the nation's first market-based system to fight climate change. By putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions, it encourages large power plants to become cleaner and more efficient.

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