Frustrated by the U.S. government’s refusal to ratify the Kyoto Treaty on greenhouse-gas emissions, nine Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states have initiated action to address the issue. By the end of September, they may conclude the nation’s first regional agreement to limit and then reduce such emissions, says a spokesman for the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection. The goal will be 10% reduction from current levels by 2020.

Officials of the six New England states plus New York, New Jersey and Delaware are putting finishing touches on a pact to establish a multistate cap-and-trade program for emissions of carbon dioxide by 73,781 MW of fossil-fueled powerplants within their borders (see table). "What we’re looking at for applicability at this point are fossil-fuel-fired units that are 25 MW in size or greater, units that burn more than 50% fossil fuel," says Chris Nelson, air-pollution-control engineer in the Connecticut DEP. "A plant that burns some fossil but mostly biomass" would not fall under the program, he adds.

The program initially will focus only on powerplant emissions. But the long-term plan of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the organization coordinating the effort, is to expand it to cover other sources, according to RGGI officials. "Currently, the focus is on CO2 only," says Nelson. "Down the road, other greenhouse gases as well as other sectors could be considered."

Environmental activists predictably are thrilled. "We think that this is hugely important," says Dale Bryk, an energy policy senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, New York City. But electricity generators are responding with restraint. "NRG supports controls on GHG emissions so long as they are part of a uniform national [and not regional or state] program," says Jay A. Mandel, spokesman for NRG Energy Inc., Princeton, N.J. "Anything less than a broadly-based and uniform program will serve only to introduce skewed incentives into the marketplace while having a diluted effect, at best, on reducing overall CO2 emissions." NRG owns 12 powerplants totaling 7,586.8 MW in the nine RGGI states.

Unlike the case of sulfur, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, no equipment can reduce CO2 emissions. Sources generally say increased efficiency will be required to achieve the anticipated reductions, but few agree on how to improve efficiency. Switching from subcritical to supercritical coal-fired boilers would achieve 30% reductions in GHG, says Robert McIlvaine, president of McIlvaine Co., Northfield, Ill. "Ultimately it’s going to boil down to what the ratepayer is willing to pay," he says.

Gregory A. Anderson, executive vice president of Sargent & Lundy LLC, Chicago, agrees that it is possible to cut CO2 through more efficient fuel use, but adds, "There is a lot of research on sequestering CO2." He also points to nuclear power as "the ultimate in large generation without emissions."