A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday voted to create a cap-and-trade system that would limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by factories, power plants, and transportation companies in the world's largest economy.I am late reporting on this but it is too relevant to ignore… A Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee approved legislation where “companies would get allowances starting in 2012 to release a certain amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The number of emission allowances would gradually decrease by 70% by 2050. Companies could buy or sell the permits on a market, in what supporters hope would create an incentive to keep emissions low.”
The vote was very close, 4-3. It should be noted, “a cap-and-trade system is widely seen as the most politically feasible approach, although economists say that taxing emissions such as carbon-dioxide would be simpler and leave less room for loopholes.”
For those who do not know, it has long been a point of significant disagreement on which system the United States should adopt to curb emissions – a cap and trade system (explained above) or a simple system of taxing emissions (self-explanatory). From the article, Republicans stated they opposed the cap-and-trade system because of “the effects on the U.S. economy”.
