Northeast States Abandon Cap-and-Trade Plan for Cars
(E&E News) The Transportation and Climate Initiative — a cap-and-trade program covering cars in three Northeastern states and the District of Columbia — was abandoned last week after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) pulled the plug on the program.
The announcement represents the latest setback for carbon pricing plans in the United States, and it raises questions about how policymakers in the Northeast plan to tackle emissions from transportation, by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the region.
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The plan had been in trouble for months. A dozen states and D.C. spent years crafting the plan, but only Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and D.C. signed up when it was unveiled late last year.
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The collapse of TCI comes amid a dramatic shift in the politics of carbon pricing. Many conservatives have long opposed the idea, arguing pricing carbon will increase energy costs. But support for carbon pricing is also falling among climate hawks. A pair of carbon pricing ballot initiatives have failed in Washington state in recent years. And carbon pricing has notably failed to garner any serious momentum in congressional negotiations this year over a massive climate bill.
TCI was modeled on one of the country’s only existing carbon pricing plans, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade program for power plants. Advocates said it would cut transpiration emissions by a quarter while raising more than $3 billion for clean transportation investments (Climatewire, Dec. 22, 2020). But it faced skepticism from critics worried about costs and environmental justice; they expressed concern it would do little to cut pollution in communities of color.
Its failure raises major questions over how Northeastern states plan to tackle tailpipe emissions.
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(Massachusetts state Sen. Michael) Barrett and state Sen. Marc Pacheco, another leading Massachusetts climate hawk, said it was time for the commonwealth to consider joining California’s economywide cap-and-trade program. A Massachusetts climate law that passed earlier this year requires the state to halve its greenhouse emissions by 2030 and outline a plan by June for emission reductions for the next three years.
Massachusetts would not be the only state to consider joining California. Washington state passed a law earlier this year that paves the way for it to join Quebec in the Golden State’s program (Climatewire, April 27).
“It’s a huge market in the West,” Pacheco said. “There is a potential to continue that carbon market.” READ MORE
Baker pulls Mass. out of emissions pact, citing lack of buy-in from other states (WBUR)
Baker pulls the plug on the Transportation Climate Initiative (Patriot Ledger)
Transportation & Climate Initiative dies after other states finally follow N.H.’s lead (The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy)
Rhode Island rethinks plan to cut transportation pollution (Associated Press)
Hogan Administration Opts Out of Regional Transportation Climate Initiative For Now (Maryland Matters)
Policy and the Future of Transportation Fuels : Government officials address changes in powering transportation, energy policy choices, and the Northeast’s Transportation Climate Initiative. (Our Energy Policy Webinar)
