Carbon cap-and-trade is dead

Carbon cap-and-trade is dead, yet radical environmentalists continue to delude themselves by clinging to the impossible.  Despite the clues, environmentalists are now even more emboldened by the BP gulf disaster, and believe such an event increases the odds of a carbon bill (such as the one proposed by Sens. Kerry and Lieberman) being passed this year by Congress.  However, in a perverse twist of events, Sen. Reid has decided to pursue an energy-only bill (without carbon) that would provide renewable power mandates, nuclear funding, transmission funding along with new environmental and safety regulations on energy companies.  Many of these legislative offerings were enticements for Republicans to support carbon legislation, and without such bargaining chips it has greatly diminished the prospects for a carbon bill to be passed.

In another death knell to US carbon regulation, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is holding a vote on 10 June on her bill that aims to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s GHG tailoring rule, which proposes to regulate carbon emissions from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act.  Murkowski’s bill would effectively eliminate Democrats’ back-up plan if carbon cap-and-trade fails in the Senate.   Despite vociferous protest from environmental groups, Murkowski’s amendment is likely to be supported by both Republicans and moderate Democrats.

The most perplexing issue to me is that while environmentalists are willing to fight tooth and nail over an improbable carbon bill, the same environmentalists are ignoring a comprehensive clean air bill that tightens the national emissions cap and aims to reduce emissions of mercury (Hg), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).  Sen. Thomas Carper introduced the Clean Air Act Amendments of 2010 (S.2995) on 4 February and describes on his website that the bill would require to:

- Cut SO2 emissions by 80 percent (from 7.6 million tons in 2008 to 1.5 million tons in 2018).
- Cut NOx emissions by 53 percent (from 3 million tons in 2008 to 1.6 million tons in 2015).
- Cut mercury emissions by at least 90 percent no later than 2015.   
 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Lung Association claim that Sen. Carper’s bill “would save more than 215,000 lives and more than $2 trillion in health care costs by 2025, by cleaning the air and thereby reducing Americans’ likelihood of suffering from chronic lung disease, asthma, or lung cancer.”
 
While Reid’s decision to pursue an energy-only bill might sound the death knell for carbon, it could provide a viable legislative vehicle to which Sen. Carper can attach his bill.  Hopefully these so-called environmentalists come to their senses and support a bill that stands a real chance and has immediate tangible results.