RGGI May Serve As National Carbon Cap Model

Speaking yesterday at a clean energy conference at MIT, Congressman Ed Markey said the region's ongoing effort to cap carbon dioxide emissions by auctioning off pollution permits could be a national model.

The plan Massachusetts takes part in is called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. It's an effort by ten New England and Northeast states to reduce global warming by requiring large electric power companies to buy permits if they want to emit dirty cabon dioxide.

The plan uses an auction approach that Markey says could be replicated nationally.

"Without question, it is already demonstrating that an auction system can be made to work," Markey says. "In fact, it's becoming clear that that is the direction which the country is inexorably heading towards. So, yes, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a very good working template."

The goal of the regional plan is to cut the region's carbon dioxide pollution by 10 percent in the next decade.