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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.

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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.

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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.

Midwest Low Emissions Plan Aims High

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Friday, May 15, 2009   

St. Paul - They're aiming high with a plan for low emissions. An advisory group representing Minnesota, five other states and Manitoba is recommending a so-called "cap-and-trade" system that sets a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions while also requiring polluters to buy rights to release carbon in the future.

Brad Crabtree, program director at the Great Plains Institute, acknowledges that the Midwest plan still has a way to go before implementation. But the region's dependence on coal-fired energy gives the proposal a lot of weight nationally, he says.

"Everybody was waiting to see what would happen with the Midwest. It's fair to say that nationally, the Midwest has surprised the country by taking such a broad-based approach to the issue."

The advisory group includes representatives from stakeholders in industry and agriculture, state agencies and environmental groups. Some industry groups oppose cap-and-trade policies, calling them too expensive and difficult to administer.

The Midwest proposal aims for a nearly 20-percent reduction in current pollution levels by 2020, then an 80 percent cut by 2050. Crabtree says the proposal on its way to state leaders is an effective compromise that creates an economically viable transition.

"It needs to take place in a way that both allows time and provides incentives for those responsible for a lot of energy use and CO2 emissions to make those adjustments."

In addition to Minnesota and Manitoba, the advisory group includes representatives from Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Kansas.

More information on the topic is available online in a Pew Center brief on climate change action in Congress at www.pewclimate.org.



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