Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says, "All such schemes are Trojan horses for Kyoto-type policies. Credits awarded for ‘early’ reductions are assets that mature and attain full market value only under a mandatory emissions reduction target or ‘cap.’ Consequently, every credit holder acquires an incentive to lobby for emission caps."
Yep.
Yes, it has the potential to be a ‘slippery slope’, but see post #59... Romney was saying the right things, even in 2004, so he’s not a RINO on this issue ...
“Unfortunately, some in the Republican Party are embracing the radical environmental ideas of the liberal left. As governor, I found that thoughtful environmentalism need not be anti-growth and anti-jobs.”
“But Kyoto-style sweeping mandates, imposed unilaterally in the United States, would kill jobs, depress growth and shift manufacturing to the dirtiest developing nations.”
“Republicans should never abandon pro-growth conservative principles in an effort to embrace the ideas of Al Gore. Instead of sweeping mandates, we must use America’s power of innovation to develop alternative sources of energy and new technologies that use energy more efficiently.”
- Gov Mitt Romney, 2004
My conclusion is that he is threading the needle on this issue in the right way, defending the conservative position without letting the leftists accuse him of being ‘anti-environment’.
Like the lefties do with Bush, even though it is a farce:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2007/05/nothing-but-blue-skies.html