New Hampshire first to take on global warming -Law to curb fossil-fuel emissions

Setting an example they hope the rest of the country will follow, New Hampshire
lawmakers yesterday became the first in the nation to pass a law aimed at
curbing global warming.

By JIM GRAHAM
Concord Monitor staff

The measure also addresses acid rain, smog a nd airborne mercury poisoning,
but its inclusion of carbon dioxide limits may refocus nationwide efforts to address
climate change. The Bush administration has rejected an international global
warming treaty, but supporters say the New Hampshire approach offers a more
pragmatic compromise between economic and environmental interests.

"I’m delighted because it will have a ripple effect on all sorts of initiatives," said
Julian Zelazny, a lobbyist for the New Hampshire Audubon Society. "Other states
will see you can do this, so perhaps they’ll follow suit. And it will show the people
in Washington that this issue deserves to be on the agenda."

The bill passed 21-2 in the Senate yesterday and was endorsed by a broad
bipartisan coalition, the state’s largest environmental groups and the state’s
largest utility, Public Service Company of New Hampshire.

Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, whose administration helped draft the bill, promised to sign
it into law.

"This is a landmark step for clean air, putting New Hampshire out in front of the
rest of the nation," said Shaheen, who urged other states upwind of New
Hampshire to follow suit.

The bill targets Public Service’s three fossil-fuel-burning power plants in Bow,
Newington and Portsmouth. By 2007, it requires a 75 percent cut in sulfur dioxide,
the chief component of acid rain and airborne soot; and a 70 percent cut in
nitrogen oxide, which causes smog and acid rain. It cuts carbon dioxide
emissions to 1990 levels, or about 3 percent. It also requires the utilities to
measure mercury emissions, leaving tighter controls to future lawmakers.

If the utility does not meet those standards, it must buy "pollution credits" from
out-of-state utilities that have cleaned up their emissions first. The concept
provides a market-based incentive for industries to reduce pollution faster and at
lower cost.

Public Service estimates it will cost about $5 million a year to comply, adding
about 40 cents a month to the average household electric bill.

Some environmental groups opposed the bill, arguing that credit-trading allows
Public Service to buy its way out of cutting local emissions. The result, they said,
could be that that people in states with cleaner utilities will enjoy the healthier air
before residents of New Hampshire.

But the state’s two largest environmental groups – the Audubon Society and the
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests – endorsed the plan, calling
the compromise a major step forward. If the bill did not give Public Service the
trading option, they said, it would have failed in both the House and the Senate.

Rep. Jeb Bradley, a Wolfeboro Republican and sponsor, said the measure
improves air quality in an affordable, flexible way that allows the power plants to
continue running. Had the bill prohibited trading, he said, the older New Hampshire
plants might be forced to shut down.

"This bill sets a national model for how environmentalists, power producers and
lawmakers can work together to address serious concerns like air pollution,"
Bradley said. Keeping the older plants running, he added, helps the state maintain
a diverse mix of energy sources.

If Public Service decides to buy out-of-state pollution credits, the measure
includes incentives to purchase them from nearby states, where prevailing winds
carry smokestack pollutants over New Hampshire.

Ken Colburn, state director of air resources, said the new rules for carbon dioxide
are not as aggressive as those offered in the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush rejected.
But the state’s measure could be a model for other states and the Bush
administration to consider cutting carbon dioxide in a more economically friendly
way.

http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/local2002/clean_air_law7466_2002.shtml