“CO2 is also a pollution fighter that reduces the harmful effects of ozone, nitrous oxides and other pollutants in the air, or too much nitrogen fertilizer in the soil.”
It’s amazing that minuscule bacteria can cause life-threatening diseases and infections – and miraculous that tiny doses of vaccines and antibiotics can safeguard us against these deadly scourges.
Equally astounding, trace amounts of selenium in our bodies protect us against the harmful effects of methylmercury. Just as incredible, this same element added to a manmade formula helps ensure that musk oxen calves survive their first year of life in an Alaskan wildlife conservation area where soils and thus forage are so deficient in selenium that their mothers’ milk cannot nourish them adequately.
It may thus not be too surprising that, at the planetary level, carbon dioxide is a miracle molecule for plants – and the “gas of life” for most living creatures on Earth.…
Continue Reading“Secretary Moniz must know that the VALUE of a kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity produced by wind turbines is much less than the VALUE of a kWh of electricity from reliable generating units….”
“It’s a sad fact that many reporters and editors either don’t have the capability to evaluate claims made by government officials, lobbyists, and/or organizations producing biased reports and press releases. Instead, they repeat misleading claims and help mislead the public, other media, and government officials that make policies that add unnecessarily to costs borne by ordinary citizens, consumers and taxpayers.”
A highly misleading August 6th press release and report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) press release and report claimed that in 2012, wind was “the fastest growing source of power in the United States.”
This raises two questions:
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“You can rank carbon regulations, carbon cap-and-trade, and carbon taxes however you wish. But at the end of the day we’re better off with no policy rather than bad policy.”
To continue from Part I yesterday, the carbon tax–on paper, on the white board, in the ivory tower–is better policy than cap-and-trade, which is better than ad hoc regulation. We could spend – and have spent – hundreds of hours explaining why cap-and-trade is a horrible idea, and why regulations are often blunt-objects that often cause huge unintended consequences, but that’s beyond this post.
And an ideal carbon tax can be shown to have only modest damage to the economy.
But where are carbon tax proponents, particularly conservatives, wrong about carbon taxes? The answer provides a much longer list.
First, carbon taxes are not strictly a tax on “bads” (i.e.…
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