July 30, 2008
Volume 38, No. 340

Contact Valerie Gray, Air Quality Management Section, 302-739-9402 or Melanie Rapp, Public Affairs Office, 302-739-9902.

Workshop Set for August 7 on Delaware’s Draft Regulation for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Carbon Dioxide Budget Trading Program

DOVER, Del. – DNREC’s Air Quality Management Section will hold a public workshop at 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 7 on Delaware’s draft regulation for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Budget Trading Program. The meeting will be held at the DNREC Priscilla Building conference room located at 156 South State Street, Dover. The public and industry representatives are welcome to attend the workshop, ask questions and make comments on the draft regulation.

RGGI is a cooperative effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States through a linked CO2 Budget Trading Program. The program is the first market-based, mandatory, cap-and-trade program in the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by committing to cap and then reduce the amount of CO2 that power plants are allowed to emit, limiting the region’s total contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gas levels.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, accumulate in the earth’s atmosphere and trap heat that would normally exit into outer space. Excessive amounts of greenhouse gases have contributed to global warming and climate change.

Under the RGGI process, the ten participating states, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, participate in an auction of carbon dioxide allowances. The first auction will be held on Sept. 25, 2008. Delaware will not have allowances in this first auction, however, as a result of legislation signed into law by Governor Minner earlier this month, Delaware plans to participate in the auction process in 2009.

Four auctions are planned for each year to provide ample opportunity for bidders to obtain the allowances they will need for compliance across the entire 10-state region. The auctions will generate additional investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy in the RGGI region and fund programs to combat fuel poverty and support customers.

At the workshop, DNREC’s Air Quality Management Section will discuss background information on the draft regulation, review the draft regulatory provisions and timing and discuss what other RGGI-participating states are doing.

The draft regulation can be viewed on DNREC’s website: http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/whs/awm/Info/Regs/Pages/RGGI.aspx  under “Regulation No. 1147, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to Address Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electric Generating Units.”  The draft regulation is also available for inspection 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Air Quality Management Offices located at 156 S. State Street, Dover and 715 Grantham Lane, New Castle.

For more information on air climate change, visit DNREC’s web site, www.dnrec.delaware.gov and click on “Climate Change.”