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Petition of Pamela P. Resor, Frank
I. Smizik, Lida E. Harkins, Susan C. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. (a) For purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:
"Allowance" an authorization to emit a fixed amount
of carbon dioxide.
"Cap and trade program", a policy approach to controlling large amounts
of emissions from a group of electric generating stations at costs that are
lower than if sources were regulated individually. The approach first sets an
overall cap, or maximum amount of emissions per compliance period, that will
achieve the desired environmental effects. Authorizations to emit in the form
of emission allowances are then allocated to electric generating stations, and
the total number of allowances cannot exceed the cap. Individual control requirements
are not specified for electric generating stations. The only requirements are
that sources completely and accurately measure and report all emissions and
then turn in the same number of allowances as emissions at the end of the compliance
period.
"Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative" or "RGGI", Memorandum
of Understanding dated December 20, 2005, as may be amended, that established
a cap and trade program within the northeast region of the United States.
(b) The department of environmental protection shall, in consultation with department of telecommunications and energy, through appropriate rules and regulations, establish a carbon cap and trade program that will limit and then reduce the total carbon emissions released by major electric generating stations that generate electric power in Massachusetts. The department of environmental protection's rules and regulations establishing a carbon cap and trade program shall be designed so as to fully comply with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and permit the holders of carbon allowances to trade them in a regional market proposed to be established through the RGGI.
(c) The department shall provide in those regulations that at least fifty percent of all allowances, issued under that program in the Commonwealth shall be sold through an auction open to all who wish to participate and all funds recovered from said auction shall be used for consumer benefit or strategic energy purposes, including the use of the allowances to promote energy efficiency, to directly mitigate electricity ratepayer impacts, to promote renewable or non-carbon emitting energy technologies, to stimulate or reward investment in the development of innovative carbon emission abatement technologies with significant carbon reduction potential. Any monies received by the Commonwealth as a result of such sale of allowances may be spent for the purposes specified in this section, or purposes specified in the RGGI, without further appropriation.
(d) The responsibilities hereunder shall be in addition to all other responsibilities imposed by any other general or special law or rule or regulation and shall not diminish or reduce any power or authority of the department of environmental protection including the authority to adopt standards and regulations necessary for the Commonwealth to join and fully participate in any multi-state program, at any stage in the development and implementation of such a program, intended to control emissions of carbon dioxide and/or other substances that are determined by the department of environmental protections to be damaging and/or altering the climate.