The meltdown in the financial markets, prompted by the bankruptcy of Wall Street powerhouse Lehman Brothers and the weakness of insurance giant AIG, could have a far-reaching effect, not only for the U.S. economy, but for the world environment.
Even before the latest meltdown, which has even more talking about a deepening recession, New York Gov. David Paterson had cast doubt on New York's fortitude on a groundbreaking global warming regulation.
Under former Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, New York developed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and got nine other Northeastern states, from Maryland to Maine, to agree to join it in capping carbon emissions from power plants, setting up a regional market for carbon credits and ultimately driving down pollution that causes global warming from a major source.
The regulation doesn't go as far as other regional proposals in other parts of the country, like in the West, which is working on an economy-wide carbon cap. And it has been criticized for being too lenient -- allotting so many pollution credits, for instance, that a two-year decline in carbon emissions could be reversed without exceeding the cap, and aiming only for a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants below 2009 levels by 2020.
But its importance as a pioneer in the field of government regulation of carbon emissions can't be overstated: It was the first on the books, it will control emissions in a part of the country that produces a huge percentage of the nation's pollution, and it is to be the first to market, when it begins next week.
Did I say when it starts next week? If may be the operative term. ...
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