Re: US policy Was Re: [asa] Subglacial Water System Moving

On Feb 22, 2007, at 3:34 PM, David Opderbeck wrote:

>
> A full-on implementation of Kyoto would make the EU
> decentralization problem look like child's play -- unless there
> were a central authority of sufficient strength to regulate both
> demand and supply of credits. I think the prospect of ceding
> national sovereignty to such a central authority is the heart of
> the issue concerning Kyoto or a Kyoto-like regime. If you want to
> propose a global cap and trade program, you have to be able to
> answer this question of sovereignty. IMHO, it's awfully difficult
> to argue that the precautionary principle as applied to the current
> science on global warming justifies devolving sovereignty to an
> unelected international body comprised of countries like China,
> Russia, and France.
>

As the SO2 results show the U.S. is big enough for its own market.
So, if the real concern is national sovereignty -- which I really
doubt but let's assume I am just being cynical -- then the U.S.
could simply say because sovereignty is our ultimate interest we will
run our own carbon market with deeper cuts than we would have with in
a linked market. I'm sure no one will object. Problem solved.

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Received on Fri Feb 23 09:00:37 2007