NYS Assemblymember Michael N. Gianaris has called on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to invest hundreds of millions of state dollars into clean energy development.  The funds, he says, would come from new dollars expected to flow from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the multistate climate change agreement to reduce heat-trapping emissions from power plants.

Under RGGI, major power plants must obtain allowances to cover the amount of their carbon emissions. States can then retain authority over the carbon allowances and auction them off for public benefit. The NYT reports (scroll down, second story) that the auctions could produce over $250 million a year -- money the state is not currently accounting for. This could begin as early as next year.

Gianaris -- and the 25 colleagues who signed on to his letter to Silver -- are asking for specific language in the budget that would ensure that RGGI dollars are budgeted only for energy initiatives.