One of America’s Top Coal States Is Joining a Carbon Market ($)

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday ordered regulators to come up with a plan by July 31 to regulate emissions from power plants and establish rules that would allow the state to participate in a multi-state carbon market called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, reported Bloomberg News.

Coal-fired power generation has historically produced more carbon dioxide in Pennsylvania than any other segment, accounting for about a quarter of the state’s total emissions, state data show. Its emissions equate to about 75 percent of all the other states already in RGGI, according to Kate Konschnik, director of the Climate and Energy Program at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

“This is a very big actor coming to the table,” Konschnik said.