Greenhouse Gas Regulations – All Pain and No Gain
America’s citizens have experienced a two-decade-long drop in ozone levels across the country.
Instead of imposing new carbon emission penalties in the US, a better way forward would be to recognise the steps already being taken to reduce carbon emissions and incentivise entrepreneurship that will advance all forms of energy.
The US currently has in place what can be called the ‘36–36’ plan. Federal fuel mileage standards approved for new cars and light-duty trucks require them to be able to travel an average of 36 miles on a gallon of fuel by 2016. This alone will save billions of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel each year, sharply reducing carbon emissions. Additionally, a law enacted in 2007 will require American refiners to mix 36 billion gallons of biofuels (such as ethanol) with gasoline and diesel fuel each year by 2022. American refineries are expected to produce 180 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel this year, so the law already in place would substantially cut the amount of petroleum used to fuel vehicles.
While challenges must still be overcome to achieve this level of biofuels, the federal government must be careful to ensure that costly and counterproductive rules are not imposed on these efforts.
All Types of Energy are Needed
Instead of making a headlong charge into harmful, expensive and ineffective new carbon restrictions, the US would be better off giving their energy companies the freedom to produce more energy of all
types – both fossil fuels and alternative fuels – as cleanly, efficiently and affordably as possible in the US. Combine these actions with greater government investment in energy efficiency, conservation, pollution controls and energy research and you have an energy policy that will strengthen America and benefit all our people.
The innovations that transformed the lives of generations past and our own lives arose not because of government subsidies and mandates, but because of free market competition. On a level playing field, the best products and innovations come out on top. Governments did not slap new regulations on horses and provide subsidies to automobiles to enable them to become the dominant form of transportation. Governments did not impose new regulations on candles and whale oil and kerosene lamps and subsidise electric lighting to bring it to every home and office in developed nations. Governments did not regulate pens and subsidise typewriters, or regulate typewriters and subsidise computers, or regulate libraries and subsidise the Internet. Technology moved forward based on what worked best and what met the needs of consumers.
In the end, no matter how well intentioned, government subsidies and mandates designed to pick economic winners and losers never work as well as the free market and result in consumers coming out as the biggest losers of all. While greenhouse gas regulations in the US may sound good to some, they are not based on sound policy or sound science. They would wreak havoc on the US economy and simply move greenhouse gas emissions and jobs to other nations. These regulations are an all pain and no gain recipe for the American people. n
Events Diary
2011 26 July
Facility Safety Workshop – Shared Process Safety Practices of Health & Safety Committees The Woodlands, Texas, US
www.npra.org/forms/meeting/MeetingForm Public/view?id=46B560000001E
22–24 August
Shale Gas World Australia 2011 Adelaide, Australia
www.terrapinn.com/2011/ shale-gas-world-australia
30 August – 1 September Carbon Capture & Storage World Australia 2011 Melbourne, Australia
www.terrapinn.com/2011/ carbon-capture-storage-world
21–23 September
Gas Infrastructure World Caspian 2011 Baku, Azerbaijan
www.terrapinn.com/2011/gas-infrastructure-caspian 26–28 September
E&P Leaders Summit 2011 London, UK
www.terrapinn.com/2011/eandpleaderssummit 10–12 October
2011 Q&A and Technology Forum San Antonio, Texas, US
www.npra.org/forms/meeting/MeetingForm Public/view?id=42A9900000008
11–13 October
Central and Eastern European Refining and Petrochemicals, 14th Annual Meeting Gdansk/Sopot, Poland
www.wraconferences.com/2/4/articles/248.php
11–14 October Biofuels 2011, 6th Annual Meeting
Amsterdam, Netherlands
www.wraconferences.com/biofuels
16–19 October
Middle East Chemical Week 2011 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
www.wraconferences.com/2/4/articles/224.php
1–2 November
Downstream Asia 2011 Singapore
www.downstream-asia.com 10–11 November
International Lubricants & Waxes Meeting Houston, Texas, US
www.npra.org/forms/meeting/MeetingForm Public/view?id=44C3C000008F9
Continued on page 63
HYDROCARBON WORLD – VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1
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