Cap-and-trade is not the way to control carbon emissions.

Background Information

George Will writes, "An unprecedentedly radical government grab for control of the American economy will be debated this week when the Senate considers saving the planet by means of a cap-and-trade system to ration carbon emissions... The Wall Street Journal underestimates cap-and-trade's perniciousness when it says the scheme would create a new right ("allowances") to produce carbon dioxide and would put a price on the right. Actually, because freedom is the silence of the law, that right has always existed in the absence of prohibitions. With cap-and-trade, government would create a right for itself-- an extraordinarily lucrative right to ration Americans' exercise of their traditional rights."

Ronald Bailey at Reason writes,"Is there an objective, scientific way to allocate emissions permits? Not really. The process is inherently political. Chuck Chakravarthy and John Rhoads, energy consultants for Accenture, are blunt in a January article in Public Utilities Fortnightly. 'Early winners will be the companies best able to shape regulations,' they warn. They urge utility executives to lobby now for emission allocations that will position them 'for maximum economic value as compared with competitors.' There’s a huge amount of money at stake."