Environmental Matters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky

I am a pragmatic optimist when thinking about how we should address our society’s environmental issues.  Over the years, I have come to one central truth that seems to guide my views.  Capitalism must be an active partner in a search to find a viable long-term solution to our ever growing list of environmental problems.  A prime example is reducing greenhouse gases from coal fired electric generating plants. 

Worldwide, electric power generation releases about 40% of total global carbon dioxide release.  India, China, and other countries are rapidly industrializing and bringing basic electric power services to their peoples.  Their development, which is based in large part of the U.S. model, follows a least-cost option, and that likely means building and operating more coal-fired electric generating plants in the future. 

If we are going to develop control technologies to reduce greenhouse gases, the technologies must be attractive not only to government, but also to private industry and their investors, i.e., to capital.  Let us be realistic, we are going to need trillions of dollars to be successful in this battle and our federal government does not have that kind of money to invest or the political fortitude to take on this battle.    

For that reason, I am encouraged by the recent actions of the United States Climate Action Partnership.  This group is an alliance of major businesses and leading climate and environmental groups that have united to demand that the federal government enact legislation to significant reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

The group has produced a set of principles and recommendations to guide the formulation of a regulated economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection. The group believes that swift legislative action on the USCAP solutions-based proposal, entitled A Call for Action, would encourage innovation, enhance America’s energy security, foster economic growth, improve our balance of trade and provide critically needed U.S. leadership on this vital global challenge.  The report is at http://www.us-cap.org/about/report.asp.

I encourage everyone to read this report and to image what we could accomplish in this great country if we worked together to solve a potentially divisive issue like reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.  Imagine the potential common good for our great society that can come from these diverse groups working together rather than fighting among themselves over such a challenging environmental issue, as reduction of greenhouse gases.  It is a great first step in a long march that is going to take decades to complete. 

We are truly blessed in our country.  As I see it, environmentalists and capitalists must work together to find a common realistic solution to our country’s environmental, energy, and conservation issues.  However, a critical piece of the puzzle is simply missing from this partnership.  I may be wrong, but it seems to me that our government needs to get on board the train rather than continuing with failed policies that are doing nothing to address, much less resolve, the vexing issues facing us and our future.