By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
Rhode Island is in good shape when it comes to meeting the
emissions reductions set earlier this month by President Obama. As one of nine
Northeast states in a cap-and-trade energy program, Rhode Island is on track to
meet its power-plant emission-reduction targets by 2020, 10 years ahead of the
deadline set by the Clean Power Plan.
The Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
deserves much of the credit for the state’s speedy progress. Since 2009, the
consortium has run a cap-and-trade market that incentivizes power plants —
Rhode Island has five — to either cut carbon dioxide emissions or pay to
pollute.
Funds raised from auctioning off pollution allowances go back to the
states and fund energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects, such as solar
panels for schools and other programs that cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Under the recently adopted Clean Power Plan mandates, states are expected to cut carbon emissions from
power plants 32 percent of 2005 levels by 2030.
Rhode Island has a goal to cuts its emissions to about 3.5 million
tons annually. Determining where that figure is now is unclear, because of the
state’s regional participation in the power grid and RGGI, but it is on track
to cut its 2005 emissions in half by 2020, according to state officials.
States have until September 2016 to come up with a plan to reduce carbon emissions. They can file an extension until 2018. If they don’t comply, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will enact plans for them. Emission reductions must begin by 2022.
States are encouraged to use a series of methods: carbon pricing,
collaboration with other states, shift from coal to natural gas, use more
renewable energy. The EPA has estimated that the plan will grow
renewable-energy production nationwide from 5 percent to 28 percent of
electricity generation.
The environmental community has praised the plan, and National
Grid is a supporter. Rhode Island was one of 17 states and cities that sent the
EPA a letter of support for the Clean Power Plan.
Critics, however, say paying for power-plant improvements and
renewable-energy incentives will increase electric bills.
The Wall Street Journal has said “states should refuse to comply
with Obama’s lawless power rule.” The coal mining states of West Virginia,
Kentucky and Wyoming have filed legal action to delay the proposal. They, along
with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan,
Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin, say the EPA doesn’t have
the authority to carry it out.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) argues that the shift to natural gas increases water and air
pollution caused by hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Distribution and storage
of fracked gas leads to more methane leaks, according to the organization.
Natural gas price spikes also will cause price increases for utility customers.
The UCS, however, praises the plan for not allowing states to
simply replace high-polluting fossil-fuel plants with new natural-gas power
plants and instead places more focus on renewable energy.
What does it mean for Rhode Island? The state will likely reach
its reduction goal simply by continuing its participation in RGGI.
Its Clean
Power Plan will be submitted to the EPA as part of a nine-state plan. State
officials say all RGGI states will seek an extension and submit the plan by
2018.
Rhode Island’s Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council is
addressing all other carbon emissions, including those from the transportation
sector.
In addition to the cutting carbon emissions, the Clean Power Plan
goes after other air pollutants. Rhode Island, as a downwind state from
coal-burning states such as Ohio and Kentucky, is expected to see fewer ozone
days and other pollution-related health benefits.
Gas and coal each account for about 30 percent of U.S. electricity
generation. In Rhode Island, natural gas generates nearly all of the state’s
electricity. None comes from coal.
The shift from natural gas to renewables will be gradual but
deliberate, according to state energy officials. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse,
D-R.I., said natural gas will serve as a “backstop” until renewable energy
increases. In the meantime, he said efforts must be made to reduce methane
leakage from fracking and natural-gas pipelines.
Whitehouse and state officials say any near-term increase in cost
for more renewable energy and reducing emissions will be smaller compared to
the long-term savings from energy efficiency and the declining costs for wind
and solar power. The EPA estimates that the average family will save $85
annually on its electric bill starting in 2030.
Whitehouse also maintains that a tax on carbon fuels is the best
method for addressing all climate-change emissions. “So the rate goes up a
little, the use goes down more and what the consumer sees is a smaller check
that they write for their electric use every month,” he said.