For States, $48 Million to Help Cut Emissions

Two charitable groups will spend $48 million over the next three years to help states figure out how to reduce emissions from electricity production, an effort to seize the possibilities that are opening up as the cost of clean power falls.

The plan is to be announced Wednesday morning in New York.  Half the money will come from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization set up by Michael R. Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, and half will come from Mark Heising and Elizabeth Simons, a California couple who have taken a strong interest in reducing the risks of climate change.

In interviews, people involved in the project said the goal was to provide technical assistance, including economic forecasting and legal analysis, for a dozen or so states that are willing to consider ambitious clean-energy plans.

One motive for the grant is that the Obama administration is expected this summer to make final its emissions-cutting targets for the power industry.  If that plan survives expected political and legal challenges, it may require extensive revamping of electricity markets that are largely regulated by the states.

In addition, the low cost of natural gas, the falling cost of renewable energy and the rise of technologies that can shave electrical demand are all putting pressure on electric utilities, especially those dependent on coal.  Even without the impetus of President Obama’s plan, those factors would require adjustments in the electricity markets, many energy analysts have concluded.
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Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which is being developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, will most likely require most states to discourage coal-burning while encouraging the greater use of natural gas, renewable power and efficient buildings and appliances.  States will have some leeway to design their own strategies, but any state government that fails to do so will run the risk of having a strategy imposed on it by the federal government.

Thus, even some of the states that intend to challenge Mr. Obama’s plan in court are expected to hedge their bets by coming up with a backup strategy.

The $48 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Heising-Simons family will not go directly to state governments.  Instead, the money will fund groups that can help the states with their planning.

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