Hijexx wrote:
] A good idea, but who manages it? Government, private, or
] quasi-governmental agency? We definately should be looking at
] it more holistically though. Kind of like all the gas blends
] we use in the US. Very inefficient to do that, from the
] physical side of production as well as all the red tape.

Presently I think its federally managed. Emissions really needs to be handled at multiple levels. Different states have different needs, there are cross-state emissions, and there should be some coordination with Canada and Mexico. I agree about gas mixes too, unless it happens that electric hybrids will make the point mostly moot within a shorter timeframe then what it would take to bring national refineries to a standard. Usually California is a few years ahead of the ball on emissions standards, and things they experiment with roll out nationally if they work.

It also occurs to me that we could do this within the existing system by saying that new planets get either no quote for emmisions or a very low quota, and they have to buy from older plants. This would ensure that overall emissions aren't going up despite the developments. You have to be careful there, thought, that you don't create a situation where someone with an old plant isn't incented to keep improving its output rather then build a new plant with greatly reduced emissions due to a new design, because a new plant would cut them out of the quota system.

In general, however, I think it is well within the rights of a community to demand low emmisions, and to block developments that generate new pollution problems. Coal plant builders must demonstrate that their technology is clean enough that it doesn't make significant impacts. To the extent that they don't have to we DO have a problem.

RE: America’s New Coal Rush