NEWS

What we can learn from acid rain

04/02/2007

What we can learn from acid rain

By Kelly Scanlan / Guest view
Winona Daily News

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Twenty years ago, headlines told of an out-of-control threat to our environment. Reports and studies came out almost daily about the need for immediate action; lakes and rivers in the eastern U.S. were threatened with permanent damage, and Congress was criticized for inaction.

In the late 1980s all of this applied to the problems created by acid rain, the same way this now all applies to global warming.

The funny thing is that you don’t hear much about acid rain anymore.

Why?

The first President Bush and Congress implemented a simple cost-effective solution, known as cap and trade. Today, the current President Bush should follow his dad’s example and use that same system to stop global warming.

How does cap and trade work?

Under a cap-and-trade system the government sets a limit on the total tons of pollution that can be emitted to the atmosphere. Individual companies are given allowances equal to the amount of pollution they are permitted to emit. If a company reduces its emissions below its number of allowances they can sell the extra allowances to another company.

Businesses that find it more expensive to reduce emissions at their facility may purchase allowances from another source that can make cheaper emission reductions. Companies can also save any unused allowances for future use. The important part is: Overall pollution goes down.

To enforce the system, businesses that exceed their pollution limits are penalized under the system with fines.

What makes the system cost effective is that companies have the flexibility to decide when, where and how to reduce emissions. Cap and trade enables the market to reward to the most economically efficient methods, without government dictates or controls.

When this system was applied to combat acid rain, it targeted reducing sulfur dioxide emissions, which were a primary cause of acid rain. Although there was initial skepticism, the program met its pollution level goals quicker than expected and for a quarter of the original estimated cost.

A cap-and-trade system that addressed global warming would focus on reducing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emissions, which are the chief cause of global warming. In addition to combating global warming, this would also create new economic opportunities.

The cap on pollution levels would spur new investments in developing and producing more energy efficient technology. By encouraging this market we could bring new manufacturing jobs to small towns and rural communities across Minnesota. Farmers would also enjoy the benefits of increased demand for the crops they grow that could be used to produce biodiesel, low-carbon ethanol and other cleaner fuels. They could also get credit for farming practices that reduce emissions and store carbon in soils.

Using energy efficient technology and renewable fuels will also cut our energy bills and increase our energy security.

While we sit on the sidelines, foreign companies have accelerated their efforts to develop cleaner fuels and energy efficient technologies. Minnesota businesses can get in on the action and become the manufacturers and sellers of new technologies, if the U.S. implements a cap-and-trade system to combat global warming.

Amid growing concern over the environmental threat, as well as fear that America could be locked out of new markets, several companies, including GE, Caterpillar and Duke Energy, have formed the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. The group wants Congress and President Bush to enact legislation that creates a cap-and-trade system to combat global warming.

With two years left in office, we hope the current President Bush will follow the example set by his father and let the cap-and-trade system do its work.

Scanlan is the state coordinator for the Minnesota Natural Legacy Campaign