The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: A Transparent, Simplistic, and Cost-Effective Approach to Reducing Power Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions
About Our Speaker
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Marissa Paslick currently serves as the Advisor to the Maryland Public Service Commission, providing both legal and technical support to the five commissioners. Over the past three years, Marissa focused on providing policy guidance to the Maryland Commission related to the State’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and now advises the Commission in the context of the U.S. EPA’s proposed carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. Marissa’s other areas of focus include coordinating the Commission’s implementation of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act and the EmPOWER Maryland programs; deployment of utility smart grid initiatives; and analysis regarding utility reliability performance results and improvement plans. Marissa holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from Clemson University, and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law. |
About the Talk
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first market-based regulatory program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector. States sell nearly all emission allowances through auctions and invest proceeds in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other consumer benefit programs. In light of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's June 2, 2014 release of proposed Carbon Pollution Standards for Existing Power Plants, the RGGI states continue to investigate a compliance pathway consistent with the EPA guidelines that will leverage the market-based regional cooperation already established through the RGGI program and appropriately recognize progress already achieved in the RGGI region. A market-driven, mass-based approach like RGGI simplifies compliance and enforceability, and provides additional emission reduction benefits by leveraging the value of emission allowances.
Slides
Recording
This talk was held at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on December 3, 2014, as part of the Carbon Monitoring System Applications Policy Speaker Series.
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- Curator: Leanne Kendig