ZR
01-18-2017, 08:33 AM
f you doubt carbon dioxide (CO2) is a dangerous pollutant, you probably think the $156 Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne claims her new cap and trade policy will cost your family this year in direct charges for gasoline and natural gas home heating, is a rip-off.
After all, the hidden carbon price you’ve been paying on your electricity bills for years — which has nothing to do with cap and trade — might be enough for you.
But even if you think the polar bears are dying, extreme weather events caused by CO2 have accelerated, the glaciers are disappearing, and that climate change is already spiking up food costs, you might still be concerned with how Ontario’s new climate control program is being administered.
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysysk has warned, “As of June, 2016, no mechanism had been put in place to prevent the double-reporting of emissions reductions from the buying and selling of (CO2) allowances” under Wynne’s cap and trade plan.
Indeed, the complexity of that program and its still unclear rules make it impossible to verify the government’s assurances they have their accounting right.
The fear is Wynne’s cap and trade initiative may repeat history by following in the same footsteps as the Liberals’ disastrous Green Energy and Green Economy Act of 2009, with its multi-billion dollar boondoggles.
Indeed, the government is using the same rhetoric to justify cap and trade as it did the Green Energy Act.
That is that it will, “save households and businesses money, create good jobs in clean tech and construction, and generate opportunities for investment in Ontario”.
But the Green Energy Act also caused a sustained upward march in electricity rates.
There was a green economic bonanza, but only for the relative few who were awarded fat government power contracts.
Assigning tonnages to foregone carbon dioxide emissions with free “emission offsets” under cap and trade, is similar to the way the government previously justified heavily subsidizing energy conservation programs.
Also, similarly, cap and trade creates vast new opportunities for bureaucratic and consultant growth, and staffing such new requirements as “accredited verification bodies”.
The new “green bank” the government has announced will no doubt need lots of executives.
Wynne claims, “By law, all proceeds from cap and trade must be invested in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Another Liberal talking point is that, “Ontario’s residential electrical rates are also average relative to the rest of North America.”
To the extent the government has disclosed its plans, something quite different appears to be happening with the proceeds of cap and trade.
It suggests even Wynne’s green gang realizes their electricity rate equality claim is nonsense.
If they checked, the Liberals would see Ontario’s average residential power rates are about 13% above those in the contiguous United States.
The main purpose of Ontario’s new cap and trade program appears to be to fund a new revenue stream to address the public’s concerns about rising power rates.
Indeed, the largest single spending item for cap and trade revenue — $1 to 1.3 billion — is earmarked to subsidize the cost of power in time for the next Ontario election in 2018.
Additional spending and regulatory interventions under the government’s climate action strategy attempt to push consumers into greater dependency on electricity for transportation and home heating.
One of cap and trade’s dark corners is that not all large industrial greenhouse gas emitters are being treated the same.
Some are getting free allocations of carbon dioxide emission permits for the first four years of the program, while others are being charged for them.
When the government says, “The free allocations are to protect Ontario jobs in industries that are competing with jurisdictions without a carbon pricing system, and to recognize industries that have made significant emission reductions already and need time to invest in new technology”, it isn’t wrong.
But are friends of the government getting free carbon allowances, similar to the way many wind power companies who donated to the Liberal party received heavily subsidized power contracts?
For now, the government says the list of companies who have received free allocations will remain confidential, to be released at a later date.
But secret handouts of valuable free emission allowances to certain industries (and not others), is a recipe for public concern about the potential for political corruption.
At a minimum, if politically favoured companies are showered with valuable emission allowances granted for free, it will make the government’s cap and trade mess even more difficult for any future government to unwind.
After all, the hidden carbon price you’ve been paying on your electricity bills for years — which has nothing to do with cap and trade — might be enough for you.
But even if you think the polar bears are dying, extreme weather events caused by CO2 have accelerated, the glaciers are disappearing, and that climate change is already spiking up food costs, you might still be concerned with how Ontario’s new climate control program is being administered.
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysysk has warned, “As of June, 2016, no mechanism had been put in place to prevent the double-reporting of emissions reductions from the buying and selling of (CO2) allowances” under Wynne’s cap and trade plan.
Indeed, the complexity of that program and its still unclear rules make it impossible to verify the government’s assurances they have their accounting right.
The fear is Wynne’s cap and trade initiative may repeat history by following in the same footsteps as the Liberals’ disastrous Green Energy and Green Economy Act of 2009, with its multi-billion dollar boondoggles.
Indeed, the government is using the same rhetoric to justify cap and trade as it did the Green Energy Act.
That is that it will, “save households and businesses money, create good jobs in clean tech and construction, and generate opportunities for investment in Ontario”.
But the Green Energy Act also caused a sustained upward march in electricity rates.
There was a green economic bonanza, but only for the relative few who were awarded fat government power contracts.
Assigning tonnages to foregone carbon dioxide emissions with free “emission offsets” under cap and trade, is similar to the way the government previously justified heavily subsidizing energy conservation programs.
Also, similarly, cap and trade creates vast new opportunities for bureaucratic and consultant growth, and staffing such new requirements as “accredited verification bodies”.
The new “green bank” the government has announced will no doubt need lots of executives.
Wynne claims, “By law, all proceeds from cap and trade must be invested in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Another Liberal talking point is that, “Ontario’s residential electrical rates are also average relative to the rest of North America.”
To the extent the government has disclosed its plans, something quite different appears to be happening with the proceeds of cap and trade.
It suggests even Wynne’s green gang realizes their electricity rate equality claim is nonsense.
If they checked, the Liberals would see Ontario’s average residential power rates are about 13% above those in the contiguous United States.
The main purpose of Ontario’s new cap and trade program appears to be to fund a new revenue stream to address the public’s concerns about rising power rates.
Indeed, the largest single spending item for cap and trade revenue — $1 to 1.3 billion — is earmarked to subsidize the cost of power in time for the next Ontario election in 2018.
Additional spending and regulatory interventions under the government’s climate action strategy attempt to push consumers into greater dependency on electricity for transportation and home heating.
One of cap and trade’s dark corners is that not all large industrial greenhouse gas emitters are being treated the same.
Some are getting free allocations of carbon dioxide emission permits for the first four years of the program, while others are being charged for them.
When the government says, “The free allocations are to protect Ontario jobs in industries that are competing with jurisdictions without a carbon pricing system, and to recognize industries that have made significant emission reductions already and need time to invest in new technology”, it isn’t wrong.
But are friends of the government getting free carbon allowances, similar to the way many wind power companies who donated to the Liberal party received heavily subsidized power contracts?
For now, the government says the list of companies who have received free allocations will remain confidential, to be released at a later date.
But secret handouts of valuable free emission allowances to certain industries (and not others), is a recipe for public concern about the potential for political corruption.
At a minimum, if politically favoured companies are showered with valuable emission allowances granted for free, it will make the government’s cap and trade mess even more difficult for any future government to unwind.