Climate change strategies in the offing

LISLE—The Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, which was signed last February by the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba along with the governors of Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Kansas, is acquiring a degree of clout. A bill proposed in the Illinois General Assembly would make it mandatory for pollution-generating industries not only to reduce their output of greenhouse gases (GHGs) but also to participate in a carbon cap and trade auction program.

The Global Warming Response Act, if authorized, is designed to implement the initiatives recommended by the two-year-old Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group. As an energy stewardship plan, it would be administered and controlled on a permit basis. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency would be expected to establish a threshold for allowable emissions, which would be consistently cutback as technology is enhanced to function without GHGs. Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC), noted recently that Illinois expects a cap-and-trade system that forces an immediate auction provision. The auction provision speeds up the process. And it is intended to function as a measure that halts the transfer of public money to private for-profit businesses.

The system would work to lower GHGs from “power plants to 1990 levels by 2020,” according to Goldman. 

On Nov. 10, Rev. Clare Butterfield, executive director of Faith In Place, an interfaith environmental advocacy group headquartered in Chicago, addressed representatives from the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Joliet in Lisle, Ill. She said, “The carbon cap and trade proposal for the Midwest is expected to be the cornerstone” of the Global Warming Act proposal. The proposal is in keeping with the overall policies of the environmental faith group. Furthermore, the notion was lauded as part of a concrete solution to climate change by representatives from the Diocese of Joliet and other participants, including Robert Gronski, policy coordinator for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. The bill is expected to wind its way through the General Assembly in the winter of 2009. Updated advocacy efforts will be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, faith group representatives gave a special nod of approval because within the plan consideration is given to the potential economic hardship to the poor due to increased energy costs. At the outset, the act calls for the creation of a program to address the special impacts of higher energy costs on low-income families and individuals. 

At the federal level, a series of related proposals addressing an overall cap-and-trade auction plan have been introduced. Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being drawn into the matter to establish guidelines and act as an oversight agent.

The cap-and-trade auction design is also being considered for application to water emissions. Federal and state EPA officials are currently working to collaborate on applicable guidelines and implementation strategies, according to a report issued Nov. 13 to the DuPage County Environmental Commission.

For information, visit the Web site for IEC at Check out the IEC Web site at http://www.ilenviro.org/news/, the Midwest Governors Association at http://www.midwesterngovernors.org/resolutions/Greenhouse%20gas%20accord_Layout%201.pdf or Faith in Place at http://www.faithinplace.org/news.php?ID=44