By Molly Brook and Lauren Ketcham
Could water in the Rio Grande and the state’s other rivers become a distant memory by 2050? Already, southern New Mexicans are used to seeing a dry riverbed most of the year, but if immediate action is not taken to solve global warming and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, this might become more of a statewide, year-round phenomenon.
According to the world’s most respected scientists, the United States needs to reduce its greenhouse gases 80 percent by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of global warming, like severe drought and water scarcity in New Mexico.
Rising temperatures will lead to less snow pack, earlier snow melt, more drought and increased evaporation in New Mexico. Professors at New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico say we can expect to see a 12 percent decline in surface water availability by 2030.
Sadly, our federal government has done little to address the threat of climate change, and greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise. In New Mexico alone, emissions have increased 218 percent since 1960, from 18.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to 57.8 million metric tons in 2001.
As a result, states across the West are taking the fate of the region into their own hands. Knowing that we can accomplish more together than separately, Gov. Richardson has teamed up with seven other western states to develop regional strategies to address global warming, called the Western Climate Initiative (WCI).
Through this initiative, western states are considering adoption of a regional cap-and-trade system, providing a financial incentive for emission reductions by assigning a cost to polluting. This system would cap the amount of global warming pollutants industries, like coal plants and oil producers, can emit. These caps would then eventually decrease over time, and lower New Mexico’s overall global warming emissions. As a result, heavy polluters would be held accountable for the emissions they put into our air, and pollution permit revenues could be used to protect consumers and invest in clean and innovative energy solutions.
In July, the first draft of the WCI’s cap-and-trade proposal was released. Although this is a significant step towards effective climate solutions, the draft plan fell short of what is needed.
First, this draft proposal focuses solely on capping electricity, oil, and coal production, which only comprises 25 percent of all carbon emissions in the region. While this is a substantial undertaking, transportation fuels are responsible for approximately 40 percent of all emissions in the West. If the proposal remains as is, transportation would stay uncapped until 2015. If we want to avoid the most harmful effects of a warming planet, we cannot afford to wait to regulate this important source of pollution.
Second, the proposal relies too generously on offsets, allowing offsets to be used for a majority of emission reductions polluters are required to deliver. Verifying offsets, such as pledges to protect stands of trees in foreign countries, has proved difficult, and by enabling polluters to pay others to reduce their emissions, we fail to drive the innovation and behavioral changes we need to see in the West.
Third, the proposal is silent on whether states will be required to auction pollution permits, leaving the door open for the possibility that the lion’s share of these permits will be handed out at no cost, lining corporate pockets. If permits are not auctioned, businesses and utilities will reap windfall profits, and the state will lose out on revenues needed to protect low-income consumers, invest in clean renewable energy and energy efficiency and provide needed job training.
This September, the WCI was scheduled to release the final draft of the regional cap-and-trade proposal. While this effort is certainly a step in the right direction, it does not take full advantage of New Mexico’s outstanding potential to be a leader in clean, innovative energy solutions. With an average of 310 sunny days a year, plenty of wind blowing across our Eastern plains and some of the best scientific minds in the country, we have the potential to be one of the top renewable energy producers in the country and create thousands of high-paying green-collar jobs.
With the WCI proposal solidified, it is up to Gov. Richardson and the New Mexico legislature to not only follow through with that proposal, but exceed those regional goals by committing to full auction of pollution permits and to making New Mexico a national leader in clean-energy production.
Brook and Ketcham work with Environment New Mexico, a state-wide environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting New Mexico’s air, water and open space. www.EnvironmentNewMexico.org.
