3 April 2005Long Island Press
More than 100 organizations across the Northeast have partnered in a call for reductions in global warming pollution from power plants. Public health, faith, labor and action groups joined environmental organizations in signing on to a set of principles that support a 25 percent reduction in power plant carbon dioxide emissions by 2020.
In a letter to their respective governors Wednesday, the groups called for strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the region's power plants.
"Global warming is a serious problem that requires quick, aggressive action," says Emily Rusch, Energy Advocate for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG). "Reducing carbon pollution from power plants is a key strategy in any plan to curb the harmful effects of human-induced climate change."
Northeast states, including all of New England, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, are engaged in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to create a precedent-setting cap-and-trade program to address carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
"New Jersey, as a densely populated coastal state, will feel the brunt of global warming more than any other state in the union. That is why we have to act," says Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club Chapter director.
The coalition issued seven principles that provide a blueprint for a program that relies on a mandatory cap for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants as the primary way to reduce emissions. The principles do not rely on nuclear power as an emission-reduction strategy and ensures that the dirtiest power companies, not ratepayers, bear the majority of the costs of shifting to cleaner solutions.
"As a coastal and garden state on the front lines of global warming, New Jersey should be aggressively advocating these seven principles instead of putting up unnecessary road blocks for clean renewable energy like offshore wind," says David Pringle, campaign director for the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "In addition to tackling global warming head on, this is the best way to address a plethora of environmental and economic problems from acid rain, smog, air toxics and mercury to our over-reliance on foreign oil specifically and fossil fuels more generally."
Groups lending their support to these principles include the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club, the New Jersey Environmental Federation, the New Jersey Audubon Society, Green Faith, Delaware Riverkeeper and Grandmothers, Mothers, and More for Energy Safety.
"The Northeast has the opportunity to provide leadership to the rest of the country and the world by supporting an effective program to reduce global warming pollution," says Rusch. "Following these principles will lead to success."
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