Mel Ladousier: Carbon credits created from thin air

Re: “Carbon auction biggest so far” (Page A4, Feb. 26): The Cap & Trade program is finally revealed for what it truly is – a government scam to raise money through taxation masked as environmental protection program. When Gov. Jerry Brown wants more revenue for his high-speed rail project, he has more carbon credits created to sell to the highest bidder who then taxes its customers for the expense on the carbon credits.

These credits are fictitious. No entity reduced carbon emissions to create these credits. Bottom line for businesses: If you want to do business or expand your business in California you are going to have to buy carbon credits, which are created out of thin air for the purposes of taxation by another name.

If Cap & Trade were true to its purpose, a regulated industry within the state would have to reduce its emissions by a quantifiable, verifiable amount in order to sell or trade those units and the state would be eliminating those credits it purchases so as to gradually reduce the total carbon footprint of its territory. But that is clearly not the case.

This story was originally published February 27, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Mel Ladousier: Carbon credits created from thin air."