The governors of six Midwestern states and the premier of Manitoba signed on to the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord yesterday, the first such multistate program in the U.S. Midwest. For those of you keeping track at home, along with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the Northeast and an agreement among West Coast governors, about 48 percent of the U.S. population is now represented in some form of regional GHG reduction program. The Midwest agreement commits Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Manitoba to setting up a regional cap-and-trade system for trading emission credits. Credit trading would begin in 2010, but no reduction goal has been established yet. Indiana, Ohio, and South Dakota also signed on, but only as observers. At the same conference, 12 Midwestern governors agreed to various other goals, such as aiming to have 30 percent of the region’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2030, and working to increase the use of biofuels.
