Global Warming In the News

BOSTON— Legislators working on a proposed law to cap the state’s carbon emissions and reduce them by 20 percent over the next 12 years yesterday pointed to a new report showing that New England has increased its global warming emissions since 2001 as evidence that more stringent emission control programs are needed.

The report, put out by regional environmental organizations, shows that all New England states except Rhode Island increased emissions contributing to global warming since the region’s governors agreed on a goal to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2010.

The biggest increases came in higher carbon emissions from transportation, electricity generation and residential energy use.
 

Massachusetts emissions increased 2 percent from 2001 to 2005, the latest years for which federal data is available, driven mostly by transportation and energy sector emissions, according to the findings.

The information comes as state officials are wrestling with a series of proposed initiatives to set goals to reduce carbon emissions and establish new programs to invest in alternative energy and energy conservation.

A package of alternative energy incentive programs and conservation initiatives are included in energy bills that passed the House and Senate earlier and are in conference committee to iron out the differences.

Another bill that would set steeper goals for the state over the next 12 years than those agreed to by the New England governors has not yet gotten that far. The Global Warming Solutions Act passed the Senate, but has yet to gain traction in the House or get clear support from the governor’s office.

New England governors have agreed on a target of 10 percent reductions by 2020, but state Sen. Mark R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, said the 10 percent reduction does not go far enough in light of increasing evidence of damage from the greenhouse effect.

He said further that unlike current goals stated by New England leaders, the proposed law would codify the 20 percent reduction.

“I am calling on this administration to up the ante … to take a public stand on this bill,” Mr. Pacheco said of the governor’s position. “We need their help on this now.” He added that if the bill is not adopted before the Legislature ends its current two-year session this summer, it could be a year or two before the bill is up for consideration again.

Mr. Pacheco said the report shows goals adopted in 2001 are not being met and firmer long-term caps are needed.

“As long as we have goals and targets that do not get met, it will impact our economy, it will impact our public health, and we will not have a great future ahead of us,” Mr. Pacheco said. “We need a lot more courage and a lot more leadership to fix this problem. The longer we wait, the more we will have to do.”

Lila Glick of Clean Water Action said evidence of global warming, from recent breakaway of large chunks of the Antarctic ice shelf to studies showing that spring is arriving a month earlier than it did 40 years ago, show the need to curtail carbon emissions.

“We were pretty disturbed,” by the findings of the report, she said. “It shows we are basically going in the wrong direction.”

Since 2001 she said population has grown by .3 percent, but transportation emissions have grown by about 7 percent, which she said primarily came from people switching from economy cars to less fuel-efficient trucks and sport utility vehicles and commuting longer distances.

The state legislation to invest in renewable energy and more conservation would mark a “monumental” step in shifting the state toward cleaner energy, said Ben Wright of Environment Massachusetts. But, he said, “A cap on carbon emissions from all sectors of the economy is the next step,” to begin trying to slow climate change.

Some manufacturing groups have said caps on emissions would hurt the state’s economy. Mr. Pacheco disputed that claim, saying that setting long-term caps would help spur alternative energy technology development as a growing part of the state’s industrial sector, create jobs and reduce the cost of doing business.

Mr. Pacheco said emissions can be reduced significantly through energy conservation steps in buildings, improved standards for motor vehicle efficiency and expanded mass transit systems in the next several years while cleaner energy sources can also replace fossil fuel energy emissions.