Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection proposed revised regulations to strengthen a five-year-old cap on harmful carbon emissions from power plants.
The plan, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, would be revised to lower the amount of emissions and continue to provide funding for clean energy investments.
The proposed changes in the program are the result of an two-year review by the nine participating states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
“RGGI is playing a major role in reducing carbon emissions, providing incentives for cleaner power generation and funding clean energy initiatives,” said DEEP Commissioner Dan Esty.
The RGGI region has seen climate pollution from power plants decline overall by 40 percent from 2005 to 2012.
To achieve further pollution reductions, the cap would decline an additional 2.5 percent year from 2015 to 2020.
