Earth Equity News

Does the Acid Rain Strategy Work for Climate Change? By Michael Kranish, BGlobe, 10/17/10, in-depth. “Twenty years after Congress ordered huge cuts in pollution from Midwestern power plants that had long rained acidic particles on the lakes, streams, and forests of New England -- one of the most controversial environmental laws in the nation’s history -- …pollution has been halved, and at far less expense than expected… Politicians failed this year to pass legislation on the wider threat of global warming in large part because of Republican ridicule of the bill’s ‘cap-and-trade’ approach -- capping emissions and letting companies trade credits earned by cutting pollution. Yet it was a similar strategy, devised by a Republican president, that solved the acid rain puzzle.” Editor’s Note: There are definitely important lessons to be learned from the reduction of acid rain from coal-burning power plants. However, the sources of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are far more pervasive and harder to regulate. CCC believes that it is a reach to conclude that the same cap-and-trade approach would work with similar results with climate change. There is little indication that this approach used in the Kyoto Protocol has reduced emissions in any significant way.