US Carbon Trading Shuts Down, While Other Nations Step In To Fill the Void

Whew! That was close. The air is still free from taxation. Taxation to make money and not fix anything.

lets charge people for nothing and call it green. Thats right we dont want to do this in our country. Exactly who would deside how much anyone person, or any one business, or any one country gets to produce. This will end up with snobs forcing rich countrys to pay poor ones so they can buy that countrys credits all so they can sleep better at night.

quick dems, send me loads of money. I will sell you all my credits and i have alot because im not burning drums of oil in my back yard for fun.

The whole Cap and Trade scheme was poorly conceived to begin with and was nothing more than a power grab.
There are a number of better solutions to reduce carbon emissions, a lot of them reported right here on POP SCI.
If you actually read what was being purposed countries like China would not be polluting less. They could purchase carbon credits from countries that polluted less than they did.
Yeah that’s REALLY going to save the planet.

"America’s only nationwide carbon trading market will shut its doors next month, a tacit acknowledegment that Republican gains in Congress spell doom for any sort of federal greenhouse gas regulations."

Are you kidding me? Get your facts straight, Rebecca Boyle. You go on to say yourself "The U.S. Senate never passed cap-and-trade legislation last summer, and the effort died in the House of Representatives."

Who had control of congress last summer? That would be the Democratic Party. Not to mention that the new congress hasn't even convened yet, meaning that the Republicans-controlled congress hasn't had an opportunity to vote on any bill yet.

Don't use this issue to launch an attack on either party, since clearly both stand on the same side of the issue - Democrat or Republican, Congress is not going to pass this program.

This is one unpopular program that failed a year ago - plenty of other new incentives and regulations are coming into effect to cut greenhouse emissions in the US.

I'm an avid reader of PopSci, and I'm disappointed to see that you guys would publish a illegitimate, self-contradicting article with such a strong political charge.

My opinion? I support nonsquid and thisguyhere - air should remain free.

You report that the Chicago Climate Exchange had been operating since 2003 and that they are now closed due to republican pull? Any businesses participating in the CCX have done so voluntarily as you pointed out. This didn't have to do with politics in the first place so how could you claim that this happened because of increasing republican presence in washington? These businesses pulled out of the CCX because they were losing money in this failed experiment. If you truly believe there is money to be made with this, than it doesn't require government pull to be successful. This program charged businesses more money to produce less, which, as any man of logic and science will tell you, will never work. Nothing is going to voluntarily partake in self-destructive practices for long. Not in nature nor in business. So please Miss Boyle, leave your opinions for twitter and lets talk about some science.

sndofprogress - the 'experiment' failed because if polluters are not FORCED by law to purchase credits to be 'dirty' then there are no buyers for the extra credits being sold - so yes the experiment failed.

steelyjoe, thisguyhere, and nonsquid - spouting how 'unpopular' the cap-and-trade program was is perfect - thank you for successfully repeating the message you were programmed to spew.

Please - Carbon trading is a perfectly acceptable mechanism to track and eventually reduce carbon emissions and global impact. Labeling the program as a 'tax' and other negative terms is how you were programmed to resist the initiative.

Trusting Big business to self-police in such a way that they act globally responsible without unfairly impacting smaller businesses or individuals is like asking Cokeheads to calmly divide the last 3 ounces of Coke on the planet - wishful thinking at best and outright lunacy at worst....

Battleshield - do you really think that Congress should be passing programs that are unpopular and not economically viable? What, then, should be the criteria for passing legislation? The contested opinion of a select few?

I'm not programmed to spew anything - I'm an individual with my own opinions, like you. Just because our opinions don't align, doesn't make it OK for you to insult other's intelligence. Try manners next time.

Government is the biggest business of all . . .

Now the EPA is going to march in and REQUIRE companies to start reducing emissions, with no chance to offset costs with credits. The idea of reducing emissions isn't a bad idea (there are good reasons besides global warming if you don't believe in it), so would you rather let companies operate in a more capitalistic fashion to reduce their emissions, or let government arbitrarily determine emission levels. And trust me, the EPA is already moving and they are not to be taken lightly. Plus, the Republicans can do nothing with only the House to block the coming measures if Democrats stonewall them.

@steelyjoe
"Give me control of a governments currency and I won't give a damn who thinks their in charge."
Cap 'n Trade is ludicrous and counterproductive.
If you want a successful model to run our economy then consider this...

No centralized banking.
No government overspending.
No taxing the ever-living shit out of everybody.
Sales tax and tariffs only: no property tax.
It is ILLEGAL to pollute/damage anyones property, this includes the air on said properties. (air pollution can be further defined)
Laws and development strategies are decided by individual States, Counties, and Cities.
Laws must adhere to the mantra "Freedom by Law".(you know WTF it means)
Judges must be allowed to judge and Restorative Justice must be their goal.
Prisons are for DANGEROUS offenders.
Individual States decide their immigration needs and regulations.

The Federal Government's responsibilities are as follows:
1. Foreign relations. (a humble one)
2. Infrastructure maintenance & development.
3. Border Security. (America is our home. It would be nice to keep it safe, ya?)
And that's it for the FED. lol (gotta keep their job simple right?)

See where I'm goin with this? Socialist bastards! ^.^

only the first sentence was supposed to be at steely joe! lol
I'm not callin ya a bastard dude :D

Sure there are other ways to cut emissions and lower greenhouse gases, but any of them not enforced by the government wont have the teeth to do anything. Any other restrictions put in place by the gov't will *only* be a "tax on air" without the incentive to reward those who comply and/or surpass the requirements.

Global warming, or climate change by human activity whatever the myth is called these days - my money is it will be called climate fluctuations in the next decade when data comes in showing we aren't responsible.

Al Gore = Bigger scam artist than madolf

rephrase my last post "when more dates comes in..."

Only the most gullible will mourn this development, and I see they are beginning to moan and gnash their teeth already! Climate science is BUNK when it spews the mantra of human causation! Only the most smug of the most liberal can really believe they are so ... "powerful" and consequential as to be able to change the world's climate! Idiots all, including GORE and Cameron, who thought they had a nice little scheme going to scare the wits out of children, and pick the pockets of their parents. I make a point of littering and letting my 72 Plymouth Duster idle for hours on end as I mow my lawn, trim my bushes, and edge my lawn with my 2 stroke gas power tools. Then, while I am waiting for my grill to heat up, I do some spray painting in my garage, or use my chain saw to cut some wood for my fireplace.
If it was the Republicans that sunk this loser, then THANK GOD FOR REPUBLICANS!

like chr stated, the feds are going to regulate it and fine those that are not complying, better to let the market work and join the rest of the world instead of being left behind embracing conspiracy theories, just keep believing and spreading the lies from the denier camp, all you are doing is helping to keep the money rolling in for those in power that have no concern for you or the consequences to the environment, i'm sure they appreciate your help

drchuck1 writes:
"keep the money rolling in for those in power that have no concern for you or the consequences to the environment"

No one in power has any concern for me or the consequences to the environment, and that's the way it should be! The EPA should be dissolved, along with HHS. If you think someone in the government wants anything from you except your money, then you are correct....you have bought into a conspiracy theory. Are you a truth denier too? A hater? Any number of talking points you learned over there at huffworld? Perhaps someday you'll grow up and learn to think for yourself.

Cap-n-Trade has always been a very stupid idea and was only designed to allow fossil fuel burning and extraction companies to continue polluting and destroying the environment. A better idea would be to shut off all incentives and heavily tax companies who produce a lot of pollution or any pollution.

Since the Republicans gained a little bit of power in the House, does that make them the leading power in America now and the Senate and the president have to listen to and do everything that the Republicans tell them to do and does it mean that the president lost all his power when the Republicans gained 1% power in the House? Boy!! I didn't know the Republicans had become that powerful in America since they lost miserably in two major elections in 2006 and 2008. Just goes to show you, if you want to succeed in America, you have to royally screw up the country somehow.

@swiper, lets say "global warming" is a scam and completely false. That doesn't take away from the fact that so many of these companies (and us) are spewing carbon into the air. Pair that with deforestation to make way for mini-malls and other urbanizing and we don't have anyway to filter all that co2 back into oxygen. I don't care how warm the earth gets if I've got nothing to breath. Do you think LA (and other big cities) has all of those smog alerts because their air is so rich with oxygen?

HOW DARE THEY TRY TO TAKE THE LEAD OUT OF MY WATER!

Besides. I bottle some of the carbon coming out of my car and tried to exchange at the bank for cash and they laughed at me. That wasn't very nice... Stupid program doesn't work.

The way it looks we are never going to start owning up the externalities.

Rah, rah, rah. Go teams. Man you people are dense. Especially the writer.

I, for one, would prefer to live in a society where the free market, and freedom, dictates ones decisions and lifestyle choices, not a freaking government bureaucrat. It's funny how mad the left gets when the right passes a law they don't like, and vice versa. How about this novel idea, neither one party being allowed to force anyone into doing anything.

Oh, and manhunter098, why don't you own up to your externalities and stop using every electronic device you find essential to your daily life. Stupid hypocrite.

@seriously
Seriously! lol