Cap and Trade Resurrected? Some States Awaken to Its Economic Benefits

Saturday, 21 July 2012 12:14
By Maria Gallucci, InsideClimate News

Evidence showing that cap and trade can bolster a new revenue stream has some state and federal officials quietly seeking answers.

Cap and trade is long dead in the United States, a victim of shifting political winds, fierce oil industry opposition and a weak economy.

Or is it?

Congress and a dozen Midwest and Western states abandoned plans for such programs during the past three years. That's left California and nine Northeast states alone in their embrace of the scheme, which sets a ceiling on CO2 emissions and allows polluters to meet it by buying permits in auctions—and sends hundreds of millions of dollars into state coffers.