When the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in
Kain that § 3(d) of the Global Warming Solutions
act requires MassDEP to promulgate emission limits for multiple
source categories, requiring declining annual emissions enforceable
in Massachusetts,
I sympathized with the difficult task MassDEP was given.
To DEP's credit, they are working hard, determined to get draft
regulations out by mid-December.
I still sympathize, but evidence to date only demonstrates
further that Kain was a mistake and it's forcing a
waste of resources at MassDEP and a misallocation of attention if
we really want to attain further significant GHG reductions in
Massachusetts. The ways that the approach required by Kain is
flawed are almost too numerous to mention – certainly in one
blog post. Here's one contrarian's quick summary
– regulations promulgated under § 3(d) will
have almost no impact on the GWSA's GHG reduction
goals.
