Cap and trade — taxing our way to bankruptcy

James M. Taylor
Union Leader
May 7, 2010

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has declared (April 28) that he is making global warming the Senate’s top priority. With legislation likely to impose monumental costs on the nation’s economy while accomplishing no real-world climate benefits, this is a fitting conclusion for a Congress intent on bankrupting the nation through sheer clumsiness and ignorance.

Global temperatures have not risen for more than a decade, confounding alarmists’ computer models. During the entire 20th century, as the planet recovered from the abnormally cold Little Ice Age, temperatures rose only 0.6 degrees Celsius. Current temperatures remain abnormally cool when compared with the Earth’s average temperature over the past 10,000 years.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Even if we had reasons to fear the current temperature trends, legislation would still accomplish no real-world climate benefits. U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions have declined since the year 2000, while global carbon-dioxide emissions have risen by roughly 30 percent. Clearly the United States is not responsible for rising carbon-dioxide emissions.

Even if we immediately eliminated all our carbon-dioxide emissions, it would have little impact on global carbon-dioxide emissions. In less than a decade, the growth in Chinese emissions would completely negate our effort. Nations such as China and India, which are leading the surge in global carbon-dioxide emissions, have made it clear they will not restrict their emissions regardless of whether we do so.

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This article was posted: Friday, May 7, 2010 at 12:42 pm

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