PROVIDENCE
— For the fourth time since 2008, Rep. Art Handy, D-Cranston, is sponsoring a
bill that forces Rhode Island to face up to climate change. The legislation, he
said, is a wake-up call to the public and lawmakers to reduce both the causes
and effects of climate change.
“I
don’t want people to forget about Hurricane Sandy, just as we did with the
flood of 2010,” Handy said after an April 11 hearing of the House Committee on
the Environment and Natural Resources.
Handy’s “Rhode Island Energy Independence and Solutions Act” has received mixed reaction. Environmental groups such as the Environment Council of Rhode Island, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and Save The Bay support the bill, while the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is less committed. The Ocean State Tea Party in Action opposes the legislation.
The
bill comes at time when the state has kept a low profile addressing climate
change, especially compared to issues like the state's response and clean up to
Hurricane Sandy. Several initiatives, such as enhanced renewable energy
development and energy-efficiency and weatherization programs, are quietly
progressing.
So
far, the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has made the most public
effort regarding climate change mitigation, most notably with the Beach Special
Area Management Plan (Beach SAMP). The multi-year research and planning effort
addresses shoreline management issues brought on by sea-level rise, coastal
erosion and storm damage.
In
a separate bill, the DEM and the Office of Energy Resources (OER) want funds
from the regional cap-and-trade program directed toward climate change efforts.
The
state Climate Change Commission, which focuses on strategies for adapting to
climate change, has advanced the issue publicly, while having internal battles
over management of the commission. Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, co-chair of
the commission, sponsored a bill to shift oversight of the commission from the
General Assembly to the state Office of Statewide Planning.
Handy
opposes the proposed shift to Statewide Planning, where he believes climate
efforts will atrophy. The lack of successful policy directives has prompted
Handy to push his bill. “I’m very motivated,” he said.
The
bill, which borrows from legislation in Massachusetts, sets the following goals
for Rhode Island:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2024 and cut emissions to 20 percent of 1990 emissions by 2054.
- Monitoring and annual reports on greenhouse gas emissions.
- A global warming solutions advisory committee creates a plan for achieving benchmarks.
- An economic advisory team promotes green jobs and job training.
- A scientific and technical review committee is created.
- New legislative/agency measures, rules and regulations that use yet-to-be-defined market-based compliance mechanisms and monetary and non-monetary incentives.
- Emission reduction methods such as reduced vehicle travel and reduced emission for state construction projects.
At
the recent hearing, Handy explained that the funding system in the bill, which
focuses on fees from emitters, will likely change. He noted that a bill seeking
to divert from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to the DEM and OER could
assist with the costs incured by those agencies.
Ocean
State Tea Party in Action and DEM both questioned the bill's emission targets.
“In
China and India, where half the population exists, they are producing carbon
emissions that we have no control over,” said Pam Gencarella of the Ocean State
Tea Party, regurgitating a favorite national Tea Party line that ignores the
fact that the United States was emiting large quantaties of greenhouse gases
long before either India or China. “And Rhode Island? I don’t even know if
(emission reductions) would be noticeable relative to the carbon emission
generated in China and India.”
Karina
Lutz of renewable energy buyer People’s Power & Light said addressing
climate change creates jobs, as it has in Massachusetts. “We can’t afford not
to do this for many reasons, particularly because adaptation is going to be
much more expensive than mitigation," she said.
Will
the fourth time around be the charm for Handy? The initial goal, he said, is to
remind people that the climate change problem hasn’t gone away. “I’m pretty
confident that folks have already forgotten about Sandy,” Handy said.