Ready to act on global warming

With Congress delaying action on global warming, the Midwestern Governors’ Association (MGA) decided it was time for our region to move forward. Last November, six Midwestern governors and the Canadian Province of Manitoba signed on to the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord, initiating an effort to craft a regional policy to cut global warming pollution through a cap-and-trade agreement.  

The Midwest is both the nation’s industrial center and its political heartland, and a Midwestern global warming initiative would have a tremendous influence on legislation considered in Washington, D.C. That’s why Environment Illinois is pushing for the MGA to produce a model rule that reduces pollution 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050—the levels that scientists say are necessary to prevent the worst effects of global warming.