ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Nine Mid-Atlantic and New England states have agreed to update their regional environmental pact to further reduce power plant carbon emissions to fight global climate change.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have agreed to reduce the cap on emissions an additional 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030. The Democrat says the new cap will be 65 percent below the 2009 starting level.
The initiative caps carbon dioxide emissions and trades the excess in auctions. Besides New York, the pact includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pulled his state out of the pact in 2011, saying it amounted to a tax on utility customers.
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