The six New England governors have issued a joint statement on energy policy, calling for regional cooperation on mechanisms to “value” nuclear and clean energy.
The March 15, 2019 statement is captioned "New England Governors’ Commitment to Regional Cooperation on Energy Issues." It bears the signatures of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Maine Governor Janet Mills, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, and Vermont Governor Phil Scott.
The governors' statement opens with an acknowledgement: "Reliable and affordable energy is essential to ensuring that New England continues to attract investment in the region and grow our economies, while protecting our environment and quality of life." It reaffirms the states' "commitment to cross-border collaboration and advancement of our common goals, while working to ensure that the region’s energy system fosters continued reliability and more affordable electricity for local homes and businesses."
The statement notes recent regional reliability challenges such as natural gas pipeline constraints and and the risk that the Millstone nuclear plant in Connecticut will retire. It also notes state efforts to add new clean energy resources, as well as challenges arising from the intersection of wholesale markets and these state environmental mandates.
The governors committed to "evaluate market-based mechanisms that value the contribution that existing nuclear generation resources make to regional energy security and winter reliability", and to cooperating on the development of a mechanism or mechanisms "to value the important attributes" of specific clean energy resources prioritized by individual states, while "ensuring consumers in any one state do not fund the public policy requirements mandated by another state’s laws." The statement also projects the prospect of further regional collaboration on "market-based approaches such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative."
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