The Price of Clean Air
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The term "cap-and-trade" is heard a lot these days when discussing global warming and environmental policy. What exactly is cap-and-trade? Well, it's the government giving companies an allowance (the cap) on pollution by setting CO2 emission standards. Companies that stay under the cap can sell (the trade) their leftover allowances to companies that go over the pollution standards. It sounds like a win-win, but cap-and-trade has its opponents.
In recent weeks the Environmental Protection Agency has declared carbon dioxide as dangerous to public health, and in all likelihood will move to regulate CO2 emission under the Clean Air Act. With that in mind, U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts have drafted a bill that would establish a U.S. greenhouse gas policy.
The Waxman-Markey bill, also known as The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, would use cap-and-trade to set CO2 standards across the nation. The ultimate goal of the bill is to reduce the number of available allowances each year in order to achieve an 83 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. That's an impressive goal.
It's also a goal that many deem too expensive, especially in the midst of a recession. Some house Republicans have put the price per household as high $3000 a year to comply with the Waxman-Markey bill. A recent post on a Wall Street Journal blog stated that the EPA puts the cost at less than $150 per household each year. "According to Lisa Jackson's number-crunching crew at EPA, households would pay between $98 and $140 a year through 2050 for overhauling the country's energy landscape. Economy-wide, the impacts also seem pretty modest. It will take until 2030 for the national GDP to reach $22.6 trillion; if cap-and-trade is passed, that will just take three months longer."
The other concern is how the so called pollution allowances are set by the government. University of North Texas professor Bernard L. Weinstein stated in a recent Austin-American Statesman column that the government could either auction off the allowances or allocate them with a set standard. Weinstein believes that auctioning off the allowances to the highest bidder will put undo financial pressure on companies and consumers alike. He is a proponent of a cap-and-trade system with the government allocating allowances, at least initially.
The other concern with cap-and-trade is that it allows some companies, and thus some parts of the country, to continue to be big polluters. While overall air quality standards may be met, poor air quality could still exist in some parts of the nation. This seems incredibly unfair, not to mention unhealthy, to cap-and-trade opponents.
So what does all of this mean for Texas? Well, it could mean more money and even jobs for the state. While Governor Rick Perry remains staunchly against cap-and-trade policies, saying it will hurt the Texas economy, others point to the opportunity for Texas companies to be at the forefront of these clean air policies. New policies often require new technology and Austin is a perfect place for that technology to be developed.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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