CO2 Levels Drop To Lowest In 20 Years…Now Can We STOP California Cap & Trade?

You say you have not heard the news of CO2 levels being the lowest in 20 years reported anywhere in the mainstream media?  You say you have not heard this report from any of the climate and environmentalist alarmists? You are correct.  News like this is not something likely to be ‘headlined’ by those with an agenda for never ending environmental regulations.

However, the Energy Information Agency which operates under the Department of Energy and direction of Energy Secretary Steven Chu reported in the first four months of this year, carbon emissions dropped to 1992 levels.  Yes, the report states the amount of carbon dioxide being released by the United States into the earth’s atmosphere has dropped to its lowest level in 20 years

This dramatic “carbon-geddon” happened without the federal government enacting a massive national Cap and Trade program or California implementing their state version of the economic crushing regulation.  So what happened?

Simple answer – free markets taking action, not government intervention.

While environmental organizations have been wringing their collective hands over the drilling procedure known as “fracking”, practical American businessmen have been heavily investing in this new technology.  The fruits of their labor have produced cheap and plentiful natural gas.  This in turn has motivated power plant operators to switch from CO2 emitting coal generation to the cleaner burning natural gas.

While the world’s leading climate alarmists were too busy complaining about the route of the Canadian XL Pipeline and filing legal briefs trying to stop the perceived harm to the water tables of the world, they did not anticipation the positive outcome now before them.  Whatever their specific distraction, not one climate scientist predicted that America would achieve 1992 CO2 emissions levels in 2012.

Even more embarrassing for the scientific alarmists is this reduction of CO2 in the face of its dramatic rise in emissions globally.  While China continues to lead the world in dirty air, the panicky environmental community has yet to figure out a way to impact Beijing’s pollution sins.  China is building coal burning power plants at shocking speeds, exhibiting little enthusiasm in cleaning up their choking pollution

As recently as 7 years ago, coal produced in the U.S., powered about half of the nation’s electric generators. At the insistence of the EPA and Obama administration to close down American coal plants, only 34% of the country’s electric power is powered by coal.  This is the lowest level in almost 40 years (when the Energy Department started keeping records).

The news of this reduction in CO2 levels proves even more why California does not need a Cap and Trade scheme.  Left alone, California’s incredibly innovative business community will not only solve the state’s pollution problems, it will create much needed jobs, provide increased tax revenues for local communities  and give the state a jolt of enthusiasm lacking since the 1990s.

Now would be the perfect time for Governor Brown and the California legislature to go about settling the real climate problem of our state; the creation of a business climate where job creators and the market place can prosper.