Who would pay $25 for something when other people would only pay 14 cents? Why, the government of course!
The B.C. government is forcing its ministries, agencies, schools and hospitals to pay for the amount of carbon they emit. This was part of Gordon Campbell's plan to have a carbon neutral public sector to stop the globe from warming. But when the BBC and even the Globe and Mail start pointing out we haven't had any global warming since 1998 even though carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, we know the global warming bandwagon has derailed and it's time for B.C. to jump off.
As we've seen recently, businesses still have time to cash in on global warming, and they are. The government will send tax dollars to businesses if they lower their carbon emissions, and to companies set up specifically to absorb those funds. The government created a Crown Corporation to collect other peoples' money already in the budgets of government organizations and distribute them yet again, this time to businesses. It's called the Pacific Carbon Trust.
How does this work? Schools and hospitals pay $25 dollars per tonne of carbon they emit to the Pacific Carbon Trust, then the Pacific Carbon Trust sends that money to companies that have lowered their emissions. The Trust has not disclosed how much it pays to companies for each tonne of reduced emissions. We can only hope it is not more than $25 per tonne.
If the school or hospital wanted to pay only 14 cents for that tonne of carbon, it used to be possible at the Chicago Climate Exchange. Used to, that is, because the Chicago Climate Exchange shut down, in part for lack of interest.
But anyway, taxpayers in B.C. are still on the hook to pay $25 for that same tonne of carbon emissions.
Why? Because when government spends other peoples' money, it does so for political, not economic, reasons. Would you use your own money to pay $25 dollars for hot air when you could pay for 14 cents? For that matter, would you pay for hot air at all? Of course not.
The BC government gave $14 million in 'seed' money to the Trust then paid about $860,000 to offset 34,370 tonnes of carbon emissions. Instead of paying for hot air, what could the government have done with money? How about reducing the deficit or even to school sports programs? But wait, it gets worse. Instead of funding for students, right now government is forcing school boards to purchase software to measure their carbon emissions. This will cost 42 cents per student for the software alone. But that is only part of it. This also involves hiring people to go around to the schools and do important things like measure the emissions coming out of the old fridge in the staff room. The government's priorities are all wrong.
How does this benefit business? Well, if a company like Encana or Shell Oil reduces the amount of carbon dioxide it emits by one tonne, it gets a credit paid to it of some amount from the Pacific Carbon Trust. So in other words, schools send money to companies like Encana or Shell instead of paying for school programs. A fine example of our tax dollars at work.
But wait, Shell Oil received $856 million dollars from the federal and Alberta governments for its carbon capture and storage project. It will capture carbon dioxide in the air then bury it. So, it got tax dollars to create the technology to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, and now it can also get more money from government for reducing its carbon dioxide emssions. If you've ever wondered why some companies are extremely profitable, here's a good example. Some companies can drill for oil and gas and for tax dollars at the same time.
When the Chicago Climate Exchange was still up and running, carbon offset promoters said the Exchange wasn't as trustworthy as a government program. After all, bureaucrats work altruistically for the greater public good, right? Just like the managers at ICBC's research facility who were buying salvaged vehicles for themselves using insider information and getting their own cars repaired on the cheap. This scam went on for 10 years before the whistle blew.
While perhaps well intentioned, government spending to stop global warming will do nothing to stop global warming but it will hurt families and children and redistribute tax dollars to businesses. It's time to jump off the global warming bandwagon.
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