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Comment 78 for Design Comments for the GHG Scoping Plan (sp-design-ws) - 1st Workshop.


First Name: Stephen
Last Name: Asztalos
Email Address: SJAsztalos@lbl.gov
Affiliation:

Subject: Offsets
Comment:
Dear Board members,

As a physicist and concerned California resident I am writing to 
express my opposition the offset methodology proposed in the
scoping plan. Offsets were a sensible notion prior to the era of
formal regulation of greenhouse gases: regardless of their
motivation, individuals or coorporations could choose to
compensate for their C02 generation. Scaled up to the level of a
populous state, offsets would likely be a nightmare. Near-term
history has taught us that efficacy of offsets are difficult to
quantify. By virtue of such an indirect mechanism, it is unclear
whether the beneficiary of the C02 offset would have proceeded
with the project in absence of remuneration or not. There is
plenty of indirect evidence that such projects would have
proceeded in any event - in such cases the remuneration would have
had no effect. 

It is widely recognized by economists of all ilk that carbon taxes
are the most direct way to influence market behavior. In lieu of
carbon taxes, a cap and trade mechanism is thought to be a
reasonable, though less efficient, alternative. Offsets are a
distant third choice as they have the potential for
misinterpreation, political corruption. Indeed, the whole notion
of offsets is inherently ambiguous. For these reasons, I would
advocate that offsets play a minor role in an implementation of AB
32. The quickest and most cost effective way to reduce C02 levels
is to send the strongest signal possible to the polluters -
offsets do not meet that test.    


Dr. Stephen Asztalos
Oakland, CA

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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2008-08-01 17:06:23



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