Bush Policy Failing to Curb Carbon Emissions

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released new numbers this week on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from energy sources, and it turns out that our surprising 1.3 percent emissions decrease in 2006 was, indeed, a fluke caused by a milder winter and summer.

Carbon dioxide emissions from energy sources increased a total of 1.6 percent last year, or 96 million metric tons. To give this number some perspective, it’s as if we added 14 million more cars to the road. Alexandra Kougentakis points out that this “single largest year-over-year increase since Bush took office.”

The biggest increases were in emissions from residential and commercial electricity, which rose a combined 3 percent. Residentially, this is no doubt largely due to increased heating and cooling from last year. Commercially, the number one emissions producer in 2007 was coal-fired electric plants, which added 35.3 million more metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006 than 2007. But natural gas plants, which have been seen as way to reduce emissions, actually saw a greater increase in their total carbon dioxide emissions—35.6 million more metric tons.

Bush may have claimed, after the 2006 decrease, that, “We are effectively confronting the important challenge of global climate change through regulations, public-private partnerships, incentives, and strong economic investment.” But that it clearly not the case.

We need bigger, more effective ideas if we’re going to reign in emissions from power plants. The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act is unlikely to pass through Congress this year, but it does lay the groundwork for the kind of plan that we need to set ourselves on a course to steadily reduce emissions.

The bill would establish a carbon cap-and-trade program, which would encourage companies to upgrade and innovate their systems in order to reduce emissions by setting a cap and putting a price tag on the amount of carbon dioxide that they can produce. It may seem like a stretch to think that we’ll be able to get utility companies to buy or trade credits for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit, but there’s already a successful model of just such a program.

Back in 1990, the Clean Air Act set up a cap-and-trade system for the sulfur emissions that cause acid rain. Not only did the program meet its goals; it surpassed them. Companies reduced their emissions faster and at one-tenth of the predicted cost.

We should let these new numbers from The Energy Information Administration serve as a wake up call. Just keeping our fingers crossed isn’t enough to make carbon dioxide emissions go down. We need a plan.

Tags: Climate Change, Energy

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