[TheRealVille]

If that makes you feel good, fine...
And I'm not for letting companies pollute all they want. There are much better ways to fight pollution than another huge tax.

BTW, it's not a tax. It's a cap on emissions, with the option to buy credits from from lower emitting companies. If a company wants to or has to pollute more it would cost them more, as it should. This really isn't about coal companies as much as it is about powerhouses and the such that emit pollution from their stacks. Though, the coal fired powerhouses would have to pay more because they pollute more, or clean up their act to save more money.

Emissions trading (or emission trading) is an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. It is sometimes called cap and trade.


A coal power plant in Germany. Due to emissions trading, coal may become less competitive as a fuel.A central authority (usually a government or international body) sets a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Companies or other groups are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances (or credits) which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of allowances and credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to that level. Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from those who pollute less. The transfer of allowances is referred to as a trade. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions by more than was needed. Thus, in theory, those that can easily reduce emissions most cheaply will do so, achieving the pollution reduction at the lowest possible cost to society.[1]

There are active trading programs in several pollutants. For greenhouse gases the largest is the European Union Emission Trading Scheme.[2] In the United States there is a national market to reduce acid rain and several regional markets in nitrogen oxides.[3] Markets for other pollutants tend to be smaller and more localized.