Businesses in Bay Area May Pay Fee for Emissions:
Air quality regulators in the San Francisco Bay Area appear set to begin charging hundreds of businesses in the region for their emissions of heat-trapping gases.
It is believed to be the first time in the country that any government body would charge industries directly for emissions that contribute to climate change. ... The businesses affected by the fee — 4.4 cents per ton of carbon dioxide emitted — range from large petroleum refineries and cement plants to small gasoline stations and industrial bakeries.
... regulators indicated that the fee could raise $1.1 million annually. Refineries, power plants and cement plants would pay nearly 90 percent of total fees. The largest gas stations might be charged $1 a year; the Safeway bakery that supplies bread to all stores in the Bay Area would pay $85 a year.
The biggest emitter of the gases, the Shell oil refinery in Martinez, would have to pay $195,355, based on 2005 emissions of 4.4 million metric tons.
This policy is consistent with the history of pricing pollution, emissions taxes and effluent fees are set too low ... too low relative to the marginal damages and too low to get a decent behavioral response.
However, it is always wonderful to see implementation of economic incentives-based environmental policy.
