U.S. states address environment regionally

U.S. states are pooling their efforts to address pollution, water and energy issues on a regional basis, without depending on Washington.

For example, the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont agreed to set up a market for about 180 power plants in the region to buy, sell and trade credits for emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas scientists say is one of the main causes of global warming, reported Stateline.org Tuesday.

Even though Massachusetts and Rhode Island dropped out the program at the last minute, the group of states is one of the top 10 climate polluters in the world, according to a report by the Environmental Business Association of New York state.

"More and more states are looking to find partners with other states to work on climate change and clean energy," said Judi Greenwald, a policy director at the Pew Center for Global Climate Change, which like Stateline.org is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International