Word: carbonator
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...rule, presidential candidates not named Ross Perot don't propose fuel-tax hikes. Interestingly, though, to fight global warming, Clinton, McCain and Obama are all in favor of a carbon-cap-and-trade regimen, which would raise the price of fossil fuels just as surely as a direct tax would. Almost in spite of ourselves, we may end up with a semi-rational long-term energy policy. It won't make gas cheaper anytime soon - or perhaps ever - but in the long run, it could strengthen the country's economic prospects...
...these terrible costs have added up." Now, he said, a cap-and-trade system would harness the profit motive to reverse that trend and usher in a cleaner, more vibrant economy. "Instantly, automakers, coal companies, power plants, and every other enterprise in America would have an incentive to reduce carbon emissions, because when they go under those limits they can sell the balance of permitted emissions for cash. As never before, the market would reward any person or company that seeks to invent, improve, or acquire alternatives to carbon-based energy...
...that business can live with - to be pragmatic and "doable," as he says - so his targets for greenhouse gas reduction fall short of Clinton's, Obama's and those in the leading Senate climate bill, sponsored by Independent Joe Lieberman and Republican John Warner. (McCain would seek to reduce carbon emissions to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 66 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.) All of the proposals amount to less than what the latest science says needs to be done to avert catastrophic warming, because there's a huge gap between what's scientifically necessary...
...drive down costs even further, he proposes an even more controversial cost-containment idea. His plan would allow the unlimited use of so-called offsets, or pollution credits purchased from carbon-reduction projects outside the cap-and-trade system. In other words, a coal-fired utility in Ohio wouldn't have to reduce its carbon emissions if it bought enough offsets from, say, a forest preserve that promised not to clear-cut its timber. A certain number of offsets make sense - as long as they are real and verified (which is hard to ensure). But many policy analysts fear that...
...took some guts, but this issue may soon test the limits of his courage. McCain hasn't yet promised to vote for the Lieberman-Warner bill. (He's holding out for a package of nuclear incentives - even though cap-and-trade is a built-in incentive for all low-carbon energy, including nuclear.) And in his big Portland speech, he ducked one of the central issues of the entire climate debate: how to get China on board. There are really only three options for this. First, the U.S. commits to emission reductions and figures out China later. That...