Cap and trade not a new concept
July 23, 2009
While the push for cap-and-trade legislation is nothing new, neither are the concerns, an energy expert told agribusinessmen and women at Lubbock Memorial Civic Center on Monday.
Ben Lieberman, senior policy analyst on energy and the environment with the Heritage Foundation, was a panelist at the Southwest Council of Agribusiness annual meeting.
Much of the discussion at the gathering centered around the proposed cap-and-trade legislation that recently passed the U.S. House on a 219-212 vote and now is before the Senate.
Texas Tech University Associate Professor of Agriculture Economics Dr. Michael Farmer told the crowd the critical issue is figuring out how the trade part of cap and trade will work.
He explained that the market is going to be very difficult to organize and suggested that individual farmers would have difficulty working in that market because of the size of offset needed to make a significant impact. He suggested that there would have to be a cooperative effort among farmers and agribusinesses.