Regional U.S., CanadianGreenhouse Gas Plans To Take Effect

Seven western U.S. states and four western Canadian provinces have agreed to begin a limited carbon cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels in the next 12 years. At the same time, ten northeastern and mid-Atlantic states will launch a more comprehensive plan on Thursday under which all major power plants from Maine to Maryland must bid on permits to emit greenhouse gases, creating the country’s first regional carbon market. The western plan would initially give away the carbon permits to major greenhouse gas emitters. Both plans, undertaken in the absence of action from Washington, are the first steps in what could become a national carbon cap-and-trade system under which all major sources of greenhouse gases — including power plants, oil refineries, and major transportation companies — will have to pay for permission to emit carbon. Those taxes will be passed on to businesses and consumers, creating incentives for reducing emissions. Under a cap-and-trade system, emissions will be steadily lowered until greenhouse gases are slashed by up to 80 percent by 2050.