The Adirondack Council has filed an affidavit in defense of New York State’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – the nation’s only government-mandated carbon emissions reduction program.

“We are in the unique position of being both an environmental organization that strongly supports government efforts to reduce carbon emissions and the owners of more than 10,000 tons worth of carbon allowances issued by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal.

The Adirondack Council is the nation’s only environmental organization to compete with power companies for carbon allowances at government-run carbon auctions

“We so are confident that the Attorney General will be successful in defending New York’s participation in RGGI that we placed a bid on additional allowances at Wednesday’s auction and today learned we would be taking possession of 1,000 more. Our total now stands at 14,000 tons of carbon removed from the market,” he said.

Houseal said the Adirondack Council had filed an affidavit in support of the NYS Attorney General’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought in NYS Supreme Court in Albany by a group that is trying to force New York to withdraw from the RGGI. The lawsuit was brought by several New Yorkers at the urging of Americans for Prosperity, an ultra-conservative, Midwest-based organization opposed to mandatory carbon reductions from power plants.

Lawyers from NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office are defending New York’s right to participate in the program, which includes nine other states from Maine to Maryland.

“We are proud that New York has been a leader in reducing the carbon emissions that lead to catastrophic climate change,” Houseal said. “We would like to see this become a national program, and then an international model for reducing greenhouse gas emissions quickly and inexpensively.

“Allowance trading has worked wonders in reducing acid rain, smog and fine particle emissions from power plants across the nation,” he explained. “It is our best hope for reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases without causing economic harm. Unfortunately, there are some people who are bent on halting this program any way they can. We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in defending it in court.”

The Adirondack Council has been a participant in the RGGI’s quarterly carbon allowance auctions since the auctions began in September 2008. To date, the organization has purchased 14,000 tons worth with money donated by its supporters. Rather than resell the allowances to polluters, the organization retires them from the program by withholding them permanently from the market.

The organization also offers members of the public an opportunity to participate in retiring allowances by making a modest donation to the organization. For a tax-deductible contribution of $25, donors receive an embossed Carbon Reduction Certificate commemorating the permanent retirement of three tons’ worth of allowances. Or, for a tax-deductible $125 donation, participants will receive a Carbon Zero Certificate, showing that the donor eliminated an entire year’s worth of carbon emissions (for the average American) by retiring 21 carbon allowances. The certificates carry the serial numbers of the allowances being retired and can be issued in the name of anyone the donor chooses.

All revenues go back into the Adirondack Council’s advocacy, public education and carbon-reduction programs.

A national leader on acid rain and climate change, the Adirondack Council is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 and dedicated to ensuring the ecological integrity and wild character of New York’s 9,300-square-mile Adirondack Park. The Council carries out its mission through research, education, advocacy and legal action. Adirondack Council members live in all 50 United States.