By Erin Stojan Ruccolo, RE-AMP Commons coordinator, Fresh Energy

Stay up to date with these global warming and energy policy tidbits.

Climate change legislation “discussion draft” has been released by Energy and Commerce Chair John Dingell (D-MI) and Rick Boucher (D-VA.)  Read the 461-page document [pdf], or its 2-page summary [pdf] and analysis (hat tip to Grist.org).

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) (called “reggie” in policy circles) held the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade auction on September 25. RGGI reports [pdf] that 12.6 million allowances were sold; 59 participants took part. Some $38.5 million will be distributed to the six RGGI states that offered allowances for sale at this auction (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut). Allowances sold for $3.07 per ton. Four other northeastern states are a part of RGGI. Other regional initiatives to limit carbon include the Western Climate Initiative and the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord.

Minnesota ties for seventh place in state-by-state analysis in energy efficiency, according to an American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy report. The 2008 Energy Efficiency Scorecard found Minnesota shared its ranking with Massachusetts. California came in first, followed by Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont, New York and Washington, respectively. Wisconsin and New Jersey rounded out the top ten. Take that, Wisconsin!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm by Fresh Energy and is filed under Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.