LETTER: Plan to slow greenhouse gases targets wealth

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES/LETTERS, 3/25/2009 by Jean Nelson - It’s a political question, not a matter of climate science, says Oregon’s new chief climate scientist, Philip W. Mote, about Oregon’s SB 80, a proposed bill that claims it will slow emissions of greenhouse gases. ∴ But will it? Perhaps a teeny, tiny bit, but at a terrible cost to Oregon. Described in current testimony before our state legislature as “drastic” and “extreme,” the proposed cap-and-trade scheme has finally been subjected to scientific auditing.

QuantEcon Inc. scientists Randall J. Pozdena, Ph.D., and Eric Fruits, PhD., made their findings public in September 2008. They predict for 2020 if cap and trade is implemented:

Oregon’s economic growth to 2020 will be cut approximately in half. The result: 90,000 fewer Oregon jobs than normal growth would produce; state and local revenues will be $4.4 billion lower, making it even more difficult to fund social programs; personal income will decrease and energy costs for you and me will skyrocket.

A study based on a global analysis by well-known climate scientist T.M.L. Wigley assessed the possible “climate stabilization” effect of a complete cessation of state and nationwide emissions (no fossil fuel power plants, not even a single internal combustion engine). That’s a reduction of emissions to zero immediately and continuing into the future. The results by the year 2100 would be hard to measure accurately: merely an 0.021 degree Celsius change. Oregon’s contribution would be miniscule.

Oregon’s proposed cap-and-trade looks like a scheme to redistribute wealth without climate improvement.

Jean Nelson, Corvallis
See LETTER and COMMENTS at the GT...

Added 3/28: See Tracy Rupp's response (published in the Friday paper) and ONLINE COMMENTS: [GT] Letter: Conservatives are frightened that socialism may be on the rise (March 27). Then see here.