Global climate change is a serious issue that deserves a serious response.

While the world was meeting in Montreal earlier this month to talk about what happens in 2013 after the dictates of the Kyoto Protocol expires, the United States instead insisted on a path of distraction.

Unfortunately, the Northeast, once a model for how regional cooperation could help control pollution that contributes to global climate change, is on the verge of mimicking that poor policy.

Since 2003, Maine and eight other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states have been working on a regional model for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The details of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, called Reggie for short, were to be announced this week. But Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have effectively blocked the agreement from moving forward.

Reggie would create a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in participating states while also requiring that emissions be maintained at their current levels through 2015 and then reduced by 10 percent by 2020.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said that he fears the compact could drive energy prices higher, forcing power generators to switch to more expensive natural gas or build new, cleaner plants. There could be costs associated with reducing emissions. Some estimates suggest electricity rates could increase between 1 and 4 percent due to Reggie. Environmentalists, who support the agreement, say that with or without Reggie, energy prices are predicted to climb by double digits between now and 2020.

The world is moving forward on efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions, with or without the United States. Those involved in the Reggie negotiations say there’s still hope that a deal can be reached. Maine, which has been a leader in reducing air pollution especially during the three years of the Baldacci administration, should hold its course.

After more than two years of negotiations, the three states that are now holding out on the agreement threaten to scuttle the whole thing. We hold out hope that something can be salvaged, but now it’s up to the six states that remain committed to reducing greenhouse gases to determine whether their plans can be effective without the three little sheep who have lost their way on climate change.