ALBANY - New York State Wednesday announced a 45-day comment period for the revised draft regulations for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program that will reduce emissions from power plants. This will include public hearings in Albany and Long Island.

RGGI is an agreement by 10 Northeastern states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with participating states issuing their own regulations. When fully implemented, RGGI will achieve a 16 percent reduction in emissions from projected business-as-usual emissions.

Since announcing the first draft of RGGI regulations last fall, New York has received more than 10,000 public comments. In response, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority have updated the proposed regulations and outlined rules for the auctioning of pollution credits.

RGGI states have set auctions for September and December. Through the auction process, companies will have to buy allowances for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit. The auction process is a market-based approach that will cap, then reduce the amount of emissions allowed.