Global warming
bill aims at state’s manufacturers

Would increase energy costs, affect reliability

(March 20, 2008) Pushed by a coalition of environmental organizations and approved by the Environment Committee, a legislative proposal would lock Connecticut into enforceable limits on carbon emissions and take the first steps toward imiting emissions from state manufacturers.

HB-5600 replaces Connecticut’s Climate Change Action Plan with highly aggressive mandatory caps on carbon emissions. It primarily focuses on the electric power industry, but its environmental advocates say they would also like to take aim at “all sectors.”

Towards that end, the bill creates a statewide carbon registry and mandatory reporting system for businesses with emissions exceeding a relatively low threshold that would affect large numbers of Connecticut manufacturing facilities (10,000 tons of carbon).

Many more layers of government intervention would also be introduced. The proposal calls for emission limits on electric generators, a minimum of nine new state regulations; new fuel standards for Connecticut motor vehicles, severely restrictions on the siting of new fossil fuel power plants in Connecticut, and new state employees with the authority to prevent new construction or major renovations from moving forward if the project does not meet stringent energy efficiency standards.

CBIA believes the proposal is unnecessary and ill-advised: Connecticut is already a national leader on climate change issues. We have a Climate Change Action Plan finalized in 2005 — which the bill seeks to abandon — and the state is part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) which caps carbon emissions from the electric sector in Connecticut. What’s more, Congress is moving forward with a national program for reducing carbon emissions.

Instead, lawmakers during a very difficult economic period should reject this costly bill that would hurt our economy while having no measurable impact on global climate.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Brown at 860-244-1926 or eric.brown@cbia.com.