CAP AND TRADE

Among the things that Republican candidates for president are falling all over themselves to reject are their past records on global warming and cap and trade for carbon dioxide emissions.

One thing that Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney have in common: These GOP presidential contenders all are running away from their past positions on global warming, driven by their party's loud doubters who question the science and disdain government solutions.(http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2011-05-27-presidential-hopefuls-global-warming_n.htm)

Why this is a problem is hard to tell:

In fact, the whole idea of a market to trade pollution credits came from the Republican Party. It emerged in the late 1980s under the administration of President George H.W. Bush as a free-market solution to the power plant pollution that was causing acid rain. It passed Congress nearly unanimously in 1990 as a way to control emissions of sulfur dioxide. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2011-05-27-presidential-hopefuls-global-warming_n.htm)

I was involved in the National Acid Precipitation Program (NAPAP) in the 1980s when Cap and Trade was proposed to deal with sulfur dioxide emissions and became effective in 1990, more than 20 years ago. Of course there was controversy at the time, but it ended up not costing as much as first proposed and is no longer controversial. Curiously, you don't see this mentioned with regard to Cap and Trade of carbon dioxide emissions.

Since its inception in 1990, the cap and trade component of the Acid Rain Program (ARP) has reduced SO₂ emissions from power plants by 10 million tons (more than 60 percent). The program is currently at full implementation, with a permanent cap on SO₂ emissions at 8.95 million tons, or about a 50 percent reduction from 1980 levels. (http://www.epa.gov/capandtrade/maps/so2.html)