STATE-BY-STATE OR REGIONAL SOLUTIONS?

• Jurisdiction: United States

Climate Change Law and Regulations: Planning for a Carbon-Constrained Regulatory Environment
(Jan 2015)
CHAPTER 7C
STATE-BY-STATE OR REGIONAL SOLUTIONS?
Ken Kimmell
President
Union of Concerned Scientists
Cambridge, Massachusetts
formerly Chairman of the Board, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

[Page 7C-1]

KEN KIMMELL is the President of the Union of Concerned Scientists, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has more than 30 years of experience in government, environmental policy, and advocacy. He joined UCS in May 2014, after serving for three years as the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), an agency with a $100 million budget and 800 employees, including a large staff of scientists and engineers. During his tenure at MassDEP, Mr. Kimmell oversaw all aspects of the agency, including policy development, strategic planning, budget, and management. As commissioner, he also served as chairman of the board of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), helping to prod the nine member states to reduce power plant carbon emissions by almost 50 percent through 2020, avoiding some 90 million tons of emissions in the region. Prior to his role as Mass DEP commissioner, Mr. Kimmell worked as general counsel at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs in Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's administration, working on major legislative initiatives ranging from global warming and ocean protection to the siting of wind farms. Mr. Kimmell decided to focus his legal work on environmental issues after clerking for the U.S. District Court in San Francisco where he assisted a judge in a case involving the health effects of Agent Orange. He then moved back to the East Coast where, for nearly 17 years, he served as the director and senior attorney at a Boston-based law firm specializing in environmental, energy, and land use issues. Originally from New York, he earned his bachelor's degree at Wesleyan University and his law degree at UCLA.

Clean Power Home Run:

The Regional Path to Success

Presentation by Ken Kimmell

Reggie

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

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Nine States

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RGGI Investments

RGGI Cap vs. Actual Emissions

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New RGGI Cap and Projected CO2 Emissions

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RGGI: The Green Energy Monster

• Very easy to monitor and verify because of the declining cap, with the enforcement on generator

• Regional program...