Global Warming Solutions News

As the new home of MASSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Massachusetts can be contacted regarding this news release. 

BOSTON—As the region's governors examine proposals to cap power plant global warming pollution, a new report released today has found that a small number of power companies in the northeast are responsible for the lion's share of that sector's global warming pollution.

Ten power companies emitted 64 percent of the global warming pollution while producing only 33 percent of the region's energy. NRG Energy, Dynegy and Mirant operate the least carbon-efficient facilities in the region.

The report also analyzed plant-by-plant data and found that the fifty dirtiest power plants in the region emitted 80 percent of the sector's global warming pollution while only producing 45 percent of the region's energy. Three of the five dirtiest plants-Brayton Point in Somerset, Canal in Sandwich, and Mystic in Everett-are in Massachusetts. The report looked at 188 facilities that contributed to the northeast region's electricity pool in 2004.

"Just a few companies are producing a huge portion of the region's global warming pollution," said Frank Gorke, Energy Advocate with MASSPIRG. "It's an outrage that a few dirty companies are making it so hard for the region to achieve our global warming pollution reduction goals."

Massachusetts enacted regulations in 2001 that require the oldest, dirtiest power plants in the state to significantly reduce their pollution, including emissions of carbon dioxide - the main global warming gas. However, the section of the regulations—known as the Filthy Five rules—dealing with global warming pollution has yet to be finalized.

"We have to get a handle on global warming, and that means cleaning up these old dirty power plants," said Jed Thorp, Energy Campaign Organizer with Clean Water Action. "It's now been over four years since the Filthy Five regulations were released. It's time for Governor Romney to finalize those regulations and require these facilities to make significant reductions in their carbon pollution at the stacks."

With the region's governors actively negotiating a regional cap on power plant pollution-the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI-the report puts increased pressure on the biggest emitters in the northeast region, who will have to take significant steps to cut pollution.

"Massachusetts has set a positive example for the region and nation through the Filthy Five regulations and the specific efforts to make the regulation a reality by cracking down on pollution from power plants from Cape Cod to Salem," said Susan Reid, a Staff Attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, "but all that good work could be squandered if Governor Romney doesn't follow through on his promise to bring to heel the global warming pollution from these plants."

Recent poll data released by Clean Water Action and MASSPIRG found that 88% of electricity customers in the region want their power company to do all it can to reduce global warming pollution.

"With global warming posing an ever more severe threat to our health, weather, shoreline, and economy, there is no excuse for continuing to generate much of our electricity with coal and oil," said Marc Breslow, Director of the Mass. Climate Action Network. "We must convert to renewable fuels and energy efficiency as quickly as possible."

With the Bush administration continuing to buck the rest of the G-8 and Kyoto signatories by refusing to tackle global warming, and the Senate failing recently to adopt mandatory limits on global warming emissions, state and regional action is viewed as more and more essential in the U.S.'s effort to address global warming.

The report analyzed emissions from 188 electric generating plants in a nine-state region including New England, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, using data from the federal Department of Energy on facility fuel use during 2004.

Cindy Luppi, 617-338-8131, x208
Marc Breslow, 781-643-5911