Romney Will Not Rejoin NE States' Greenhouse Agreement - Reuters

[hatrack]

NEW YORK - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will not rejoin a regional pact to regulate greenhouse gases despite the urging of the state's congressional delegation, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Massachusetts helped form the pact, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, with governors from states in the US Northeast, in the absence of federal policy to regulate the gases scientists link to global warming.

But late last year Romney, a Republican, pulled out of the agreement which seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions at power plants 20 percent by 2019. Romney, who is expected to run for US president in 2008, said the pact would boost power prices for consumers and businesses.

Interest in regional regulation of greenhouse gases has grown after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and the state legislature passed a bill recently seeking to cut greenhouse emissions by about 25 percent by 2020. The Massachusetts congressional delegation wrote a letter to Romney on Tuesday asking him to rejoin the pact.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/38070/story.htm

[ananda]

1. I always wondered how..

.. people as liberal as those in Mass. could vote for Romney?

But then I've wondered the same thing about CA and Arnold
and Ronnie....

It baffles the mind... but I don't guess the mind is working at
all in elections sometimes.

[skids]

2. "Checks and balances"

In MA we've seen that giving one party full control of both elected branches of the government can be bad news, and results in unbridled spending. The general philosphy has been to put an opposing governor in there to act as a buttress against runaway hubris.

...which worked just fine with Weld, but today's Republicans are not worth shit, as those who did not see through Romney during his bid are now discovering.