Opinion: California's AB 32 is a losing climate bet

Mercury News ^ | 4/8/10 | Margo Thorning

[NormsRevenge]

To say times are tough is an understatement. California families feel under siege, with an economy that stays down while housing prices do the same.

So it's entirely reasonable that California's leaders, including those vying for the state's top executive job in November, are reconsidering the economically unsound AB 32, which is a toxic mix of command-and-control efforts to forcibly limit carbon emissions and pseudo-market functions such as a troubled cap-and-trade scheme.

A federal cap-and-trade proposal from California's own Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, would have been disastrous for the nation and more particularly the Golden State. The American Council for Capital Formation studied the impact, which would reduce the gross state product by as much as $70 billion per year by 2030. The report also found that California's 13,652 schools and universities and 473 hospitals will likely experience an 18.1 percent to 27.9 percent increase in energy expenditures by 2030. The bottom line: For government entities, costs for services, including public transportation and vehicle fleets, such as school buses, would also have gone up.

Here's the truly shocking piece to keep in mind: The current California plan would actually be worse for the state's residents. That's because a federal plan would have to a large extent spread the pain over multiple states, while a go-it-alone law by California would mean that all that misery would have no company.

Wise officials would take note that Arizona has already bailed out of a regional plan to restrict greenhouse gases ..

...

Last year, a poll from EMC Research found that many voters had not heard of AB 32's details but were not happy upon being further educated. Two-thirds of voters said they would be more likely to support AB 32 if it placed more weight on market-based programs. ..

[NormsRevenge]

California is big on gambling but when it comes to the future of the state and its economic viability, some bets aren’t worth it.

[truthguy]

If you are a California Resident and Voter, please Google Stop AB32. You can download petitions to get a Proposition on the November Ballot which will suspend AB32 until the Unemployment rate drops below 5.5% for 4 straight quarters. This will stop implementation of this very destructive bill. Get everyone of your friends and family to sign if you can. This will get the measure qualified for the ballot.

As a side enticement, it will give you the pleasure of "sticking a finger in the eye" of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a parting shot. That alone should be worth it.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Brad from Tennessee]

California is cutting its energy umbilical cord to any power producer in the region who burns coal or oil. That leaves natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, etc. [The price of natural gas has been more volatile than other fossil fuels and nuclear is subject to slow development, permitting, earthquake fears and requires subsidies until it's on-line. Alternative energy is great if you live 910 AD rather than 2010.]

By severing contracts with coal-fired producers in states to the east, California politicians have burned the bridges behind them.

[truthguy]

By severing contracts with coal-fired producers in states to the east, California politicians have burned the bridges behind them.

Yes, from your perspective in Tennessee you have correctly analyzed the problem here. You must work in the energy industry. I'm just guessing.

From here in CA, I can tell you a big part of the problem is ignorance and apathy. Most people here don't have a clue as to how Electrical Energy is generated and distributed. Many people, and I'm taking educated people, don't have a clue about the situation. They have been led to believe by idiots in the MSM and other charlatans that solar and wind can generate the electrical energy we require to keep our economy going. If you don't have a background in electrical engineering or some type of technical ability, it's not hard to see how people are fooled. A large array of solar collectors looks impressive-that is until you do the mathematics. The same is true for Wind- until you do the math. This is why most people are so foolish and easily misled. They are truthfully "useful idiots".

I know engineers at PG&E and here's what they tell me. They are going to let a catastrophe occur. When the lights go out, then people will see the light. Let their food rot in their refrigerators. Let their water pressure go to zero. They (CA public) need to suffer and suffer badly. This is the only thing that will wake these fools. Then they will be calling for the heads of those who told them that they could rely on the fraud of alternative energy.

As I tell people I know, if wind and solar were viable, the engineers would have thought of them a long time ago and then put them into operation. The average engineer at our utility companies is one hell of a lot brighter than the environmentalist (so called) or the average citizen.

[Brad from Tennessee]

[You must work in the energy industry. I'm just guessing.]

I don't. I own some stock in a couple of them.

What I do is keep track of Al Gore. Gore has been visiting California and the rest of the region for years, campaigning and fundraising for “green” candidates, and lobbying for the regional “energy” compact. Gore funnels campaign cash to politicians from the city council level to state assemblies to gubernatorial and state regulatory commissions.

Gore is a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) located at Menlo Park. They're probably the most successful and wealthy venture capital firm going. One of their projects is large-scale solar thermal. You probably know all this. KPCB is invested in Generation Investment Management. That's Gore and David Blood's (Goldman Sachs investment veteran) multi-billion-dollar investment fund, based and incorporated in the UK. Generation has been buying up trade/investment grade carbon credits for years.

Gore and associates have been trying to create a Western states carbon trade market, based on a regional carbon tax. They are lobbying heavily for U.S. cap-and-trade but if that is delayed a Western states scheme would be a good model as they continue to push for a national system. A U.S. cap-and-trade market would be merged with the EU, Japan and others.

Gore is positioning himself as master carbon paper broker and consultant between the world's governments and its industries. Gore and Blood are on the verge of making billions from a UK’s carbon tax. It's about having a captive market for carbon coupons which would rise in value once a global market is a reality.

The establishment media doesn't report on these developments. Some of them are bought off and the rest of them are lazy and dumb.