US: Proposed bill would force New Jersey to join RGGI

A New Jersey legislative committee will debate a proposed bill on Thursday that could lead the state to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the US Northeastern carbon scheme.

New Jersey was included in the RGGI programme until 2011, when Governor Chris Christie decided to pull out claiming it was not successful and increased costs for utility customers.

The Senate Environment and Energy Committee is scheduled to hear the Democrat Senator Stephen Sweeney’s proposed bill on Thursday. The committee can amend it, but a majority must approve it before it can be discussed by the entire state legislature. Christie must sign or veto the bill before the session ends next year. Christie has already vetoed two similar proposals in the past, and he is likely to continue to resist Democratic lawmakers’ push to rejoin the nine other RGGI states.

Since New Jersey left, the RGGI programme has undergone some significant changes, including cutting its cap by 45% which lifted allowance prices rise from $3.00/tonne of CO2e equivalent (tCO2e) in December 2013 to the mid-$4.00/tCO2e range recently ( see EDCM 7 March 2014 ).

Market participants believe the scheme could see increased interest from other states after the Environmental Protection Agency releases its proposed rules on how to limit pollution from existing power plants.

Ken Kimmell, the Massachusetts commissioner of the department of environmental protection, told ICIS in January that the programme has been speaking to more than five states about the prospect of joining RGGI or creating a similar programme. Dan X. McGraw