Report: State tops region in global warming gas emissions

By Rachel Kolokoff
Correspondent

BOSTON — With global warming emissions on the rise, a coalition of legislators, scientists and environmental advocates are calling for immediate action that could help curb the trend.

Local legislators are standing behind environmental initiatives including the Global Warming Solutions Act, a bill that aims to lower carbon dioxide emission levels in all sectors of the economy.

"The bill has some serious challenges, but Massachusetts is behind the two other New England states. So I think it's time for us to get on board," said Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, D-Methuen, who recently signed a letter of support for the bill.

Since 2001, emission levels have risen 2 percent despite an agreement by the region's governors to reduce emissions 10 percent below 1990 levels, according to a new study by several environmental advocate groups, including Clean Water Action and Environment Massachusetts.

That 2 percent represents the carbon dioxide equivalent of an 8 million metric ton increase.

The Global Warming Solutions Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, was modeled after California legislation and would set the goal of reducing emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels.

"I'm urging this administration to take a public stand on this bill. We need their help on this now," Pacheco said.

Ben Wright, a global warming advocate for Environment Massachusetts, said emissions from the state's transportation sector, up 7 percent since 2001, were the biggest contributors to the increase in greenhouse gases.

The increase corresponds with a substantial rise in the number of vehicle miles traveled in Massachusetts, Wright said.

Campbell said a reduction in traffic would help ease the state's global warming problem and possibly lower asthma rates, which have increased in residents living near highways and intersections.

"If we can reduce those auto emissions, it's going to have a huge impact on air quality in the Merrimack Valley," Campbell said.

Though gas emission levels did decrease by 0.3 percent from 2004 to 2005, the first year-to-year decrease since 2001, Massachusetts is currently the largest producer of global-warming gas emissions in New England. The region is the seventh-largest producer in the world, said Lilah Glick, global coordinator for Clean Water Action.

John Rogers, senior energy analyst from the Union of Concerned Scientists, said if no preventative measures are taken, Massachusetts can expect record floods every two or three years by midcentury, Rogers said. By late in the century, the temperature will rise by two degrees Fahrenheit, making some farming and fishing more difficult.

"We found that if we do nothing our summers will feel like those in South Carolina today by the end of the century," Rogers said.

Rep. Steven D'Amico, D-Attleboro, told the gathering that acting now could be beneficial not only to the environment, but to the state's economy.

"If we're ahead of this curb, we will be more competitive economically in the future than those states that lag behind. And that's why we need to take bold action now."

State Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, agrees that immediate action should be taken to slow emissions.

"My policy area is energy and environment, and I do feel that this is a pressing issue not only for the state, but the planet," Ehrlich said.