Today’s Washington Examiner has a staff editorial posted on the effect of the current Cap and Trade proposal on the environment. The current Cap and Trade bill is very invasive and expensive and would have a very detrimental effect on the American economy–but it would also have a very detrimental effect on the environment!
Princeton University’s Tim Searchinger and his colleagues have discovered that “carbon reduction laws encourage widespread deforestation as trees and other vegetation are harvested to produce energy from biomass to replace oil and gas. The problem is that in long run, this process actually increases greenhouse gas emissions, which cap-and-trade is meant to reduce.”
According to the article:
“”By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years,” the Princeton authors say. “Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%.” Neither the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, nor existing European cap-and-trade programs have taken into account widespread deforestation as farmers worldwide respond to the new economic incentives, Searchinger added.”
We saw a minor version of this disruption in farming when the US government subsidized ethanol–the price of corn jumped and groceries became more expensive. We also have learned that without government money, ethanol is not practical.
Without the introduction of standardized nuclear plants (as in France), we will not be able to substantially cut our carbon emissions. The demands of modern life give us two choices–build nuclear power plants or give up our standard of living. I am willing to see our country build nuclear plants, I think France has shown that they can be operated safely, but I am unwilling to give drop my house temperature below 68 degrees in the winter or give up driving a car that is safe for me and my grandchildren.