Russ Steele
Ten Eastern States formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or “Reggie”), which requires the power industry to purchase carbon dioxide permits from a governmental RGGI collective. The funds from the permits were to foster better energy use through home and business weatherization and to create green jobs.
With a shrinking economy and business closing, thrifty New Englanders are using less electricity than they were a couple of years ago, so the power companies do not to have buy many RGGI permits. Thus the price of permits has plunged to minimum allowable bid of $1.86 per unit. Remember the Chicago Carbon Exchange closed when the price of carbon sank to less than 5 cents per ton. RGGI has a basement value, and that is where the value of the permits are today, next to nothing.
Here is the worse part of this scheme for extract money from the public. The RGGI fees are going in to the State’s general funds and are not creating any green jobs. Instead of being used for energy-salvation measures, they are being used to pay for schools and other state expenses. Now is anyone surprised?
Do you think that the carbon fees that CARB will be collecting will used to create green jobs or just become another state slush fund to buy votes and pay off political debts to the NGOs that supported CARB’s efforts to kill Prop 23?, like the Sierra Business Council and the Sierra Club.
CARB has already borrowed millions from other environmental funds, such as the bottle and can recycling fund. Was that the stated purpose of recycling funds, to implement AB32? Really? The citizens of New England are being scammed, and now Californian's about to pay the price as CARB implements AB32.
RGGI increased the energy cost of all the home and business owner in the 10 state region. When CARB continues to implement AB32, the citizens and business in California will also see their energy cost skyrocket. The first to rise will be fuel costs, as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in implemented in January 2011, which is less than a month away. I will be tracking that rise of fuel cost weekly on this blog, with a chart of prices changes or regular and diesel every Saturday. Stay Tuned.
H/T to Hot Air for the core information in this article.
