Lawmakers forge alternative to cap-and-trade proposal

[babylonsister]

Lawmakers forge alternative to cap-and-trade proposal

By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — A growing number of lawmakers who are deeply involved in the effort to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming are beginning to question "cap-and-trade," the current hot-button solution to the problem.

The chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's energy subcommittee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., says she isn't so sure the "cap-and-trade" approach favored by the White House, environmental groups and many of her Democratic colleagues is the way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industries. She fears that it could lead to the same type of unregulated Wall Street money-making schemes that fueled the current recession.

"I have serious concerns about how a cap-and-trade program might allow Wall Street to distort a carbon market for its own profits," Cantwell said in an interview.

Cantwell and others are leaning toward a system, dubbed cap-and-dividend, that would cap carbon dioxide emissions and require companies to pay for their credits or allowances. The money raised would be distributed to taxpayers, who likely would face higher utility bills as utilities pass along the added costs of curbing greenhouse gases.

"We are looking at ways that would allow consumers to get something back," she said.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/politics/story/66334.html

[Massacure]

1. I agree that cap and trade seems really messy.

I really don't even like renewable energy subsidies. Too many sectors of renewable energy are money pits. Corn subsidies for ethanol and solar subsidies come to mind as money which would be better spent on wind or geothermal energy.

I think we should just steadily increase taxes on oil, coal, and natural gas moving forward and let the market sort out the rest.