Maine could require fossil fuel power plants to cut climate-warming pollution by 90% in the next decade according to a bill progressing through the State House.
The measure would renew Maine's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a 10-state cap-and-trade program that limits the amount of carbon dioxide power plants can emit.
Fossil-fuel generators are required to pay for each ton of carbon dioxide they produce by buying credits. The proceeds of credit sales are returned to the states, said Phelps Turner, clean grid director at the Conservation Law Foundation.
"The idea being, we shift away from oil and gas for generating our electricity and toward more renewables like wind and solar that are complimented by battery storage," Turner said.
The stricter emissions limits were adopted in RGGI's third program review last year, according to the organization. In less than 20 years the program has halved greenhouse gas pollution from power plants in participating states, according to the Conservation Law Foundation.
Under the bill pending in the Legislature, five Maine power plants would need to lower their collective emissions from 2 million tons in 2027 to around 221,000 a decade later.
In Maine, most of the $182 million earned from the RGGI has been invested in energy efficiency initiatives for homes and businesses.
Large energy users, however, urged lawmakers to reject the RGGI update in testimony to the Energy and Utilities Committee in January.
Todd Griset, a representative for the Industrial Energy Consumers group that represents manufacturers, ski resorts and other companies said escalating costs of program credits would be borne by electric customers.
Maine is already in an affordability crisis, Griset said.
"This is not the time to double-down on RGGI. Instead, Maine needs to focus on cost-effective solutions," Griset said.
But supporters point out that most of New England's large oil and natural gas power would remain covered by the RGGI program and costs of the credits would still be passed onto Maine ratepayers using power from the region's shared grid.
"There's really no argument for not passing this bill," said Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
"There would be no benefit to exiting the RGGI program for Maine given that we're part of the regional grid," Shapiro added. "We would just lose tens of millions of dollars a year in energy efficiency funding."
