The Scam Called Cap And Trade

One carbon trade case was reported during Dan Rather’s news broadcast on HDNet. Years ago China moved to build a huge hydroelectric dam to generate electricity. Good move, since 80 percent of China’s electricity today comes from highly polluting coal; but more important, the business plan showed that once it was operational, this costly new dam would be profitable. And, since hydroelectricity creates virtually no greenhouse gases, that dam was eligible to sell carbon credits on the open market.

One of Germany’s major utility companies, RWE, purchased those carbon credits from China so they could construct new, low-cost lignite coal power generation plants. Lignite coal is the worst carbon fuel, creating maximum pollutants.

China would have built its dam regardless of carbon markets, but now will get an extra $5 million a year in profits because they did. Over in Europe, Germany will be putting out more noxious emissions than ever because RWE is building lignite coal power generators – because they could afford to pay for those carbon credits from China.

So: Millions of dollars will change hands, but the net result is that the world will have more emissions, not less. How dumb is that?

Click the picture to read the article.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing