skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Legislators Launch Multistage Carbon Coalition

play audio
Play

Thursday, February 1, 2018   

HARTFORD, Conn. – State lawmakers have launched a multistate coalition to collaborate on legislation to combat carbon pollution.

The Carbon Costs Coalition includes legislators from nine states, including Connecticut. It will help those legislators design strategies to reduce carbon emissions and promote clean, renewable energy alternatives.

Jeff Mauk is executive director of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, which helped in the formation of the Coalition. He says it will open opportunities to share ideas and collaborate across state lines.

"The purpose is for state legislators who are working on the issue to be able to compare notes on each other's bills and compare how they're conducting outreach and building their coalitions so they can be stronger by having that multistate idea sharing," he explains.

In Connecticut legislation has been introduced to establish a tax on carbon-based fuels that would help spur investment in renewable energy programs.

According to Mauk, the Coalition would supplement the carbon reduction goals of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, a multistate compact that seeks to reduce carbon emissions from the power sector.

"This would handle all other carbon fuels and be a price on those fuels but be completely independent of RGGI," he states.

Those other fuels would include gasoline, diesel fuel and home heating oil.

Mauk adds that, unlike RGGI, each state in the Coalition would be creating its own independent legislation that would be less susceptible to political changes.

"In the case of RGGI, we saw where a couple of governors could pull out and destabilize the whole system, and that would not be possible,” he points out. “One single governor would not be able to take that kind of unilateral action in this kind of scenario."

The other states in the Coalition are New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, Oregon and Washington.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021