Whether in air, on land, or at sea, the evidence of climate change is, well, evident.
The rising level of the oceans, shrinking glacial ice caps, decreasing wildlife species, damaging storms, scorching heat waves — the impacts are undeniable by any rational standard. Yet parochial interests have been a barrier to reaching a plan forward for the United States and the global community.
Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of being the third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide in America.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday he intends to do something about it.
He signed an executive order setting a first-ever statewide goal to slash greenhouse gas emissions: by 26 percent by the year 2025 and by 80 percent by the year 2050 (compared to 2005 levels).
A group of some five dozen stakeholders is ready to help him achieve his goals with a market-driven solution that makes sense.
The Clean Air Council — a coalition of businesses and lawyers, ministers and municipal officials — proposes to gradually reduce to the point of elimination the greenhouse gases generated by the biggest sources. And they propose to do it within 30 years.
The council argues that Pennsylvania is required by its own constitution as well as its air pollution laws to do this. Not everyone agrees on that legal interpretation. But that’s irrelevant, especially in light of the governor’s executive order.
The need for a better environment is not debatable.
The Clean Air Council has a logical plan and it has been submitted by petition to the state Department of Environmental Protection, sparing the agency the task of crafting regulation.
The council’s plan keys on support for the state’s struggling nuclear plants — “clean” producers of power — and contains incentives for business to jump on the bandwagon. A trading market — known as cap and trade — would help the state’s nuclear plants keep the lights on and generate buying andselling in private industry — always a good thing with side benefits for the state. It would work like this: Limits (caps) would be set on industrial plants (power, steel, glass) that generate pollution. But, plants can buy or sell (trade) emission allowances through a government-operated auction, which could generate a slice of pie for Harrisburg, too. The Clean Air Council also has proposed additional economic incentives to reduce emissions or earn more allowances that can be sold.
Sounds a lot like capitalism ... and it’s been done before and with success. Sulfur dioxide pollution, which causes acid rain, was reduced by a national cap-and-trade program in the 1990s. The greenhouse cap-and-trade proposal put forth now in Pennsylvania is similar to one that has been operating successfully in California since 2013.
The cap-and-trade program being peddled in Harrisburg currently calls for allowable emissions to decline by 3 percent from 2016 levels until they reach zero in 2052. This is more aggressive than the governor’s executive order but why not shoot for the stars (through an unpolluted sky).
It’s up to Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board, which sets environmental rules and regulations, to embrace the proposal. The 20-member board is made up of the leaders of nearly a dozen state agencies, a citizens advisory council and four members of the state Senate and House.
Everyone agrees there is a problem. The governor has made the solution a priority. The Clean Air Council has come up with a market-driven way to get from here to there.
First Published: January 9, 2019, 5:00 a.m.
