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A short explanation of ERC, SIP differences

By George Baumler

  The ERCs (emission reduction credits) are awarded to industrial polluters who install new equipment, close plants or otherwise reduce their emissions output below federal standards.  An example: an industry buys a new transportation mechanism which puts out emissions below the standard mandated by the EPA, bingo they're entitled to tradable ERCs (emission reduction credits) in an amount equal to the difference between actual output and the standard.  Currently these credits trade for considerable amounts of money.  Ford Motor Company bought a large number of these Credits from the Phillip Morris Corporation after it closed its local production facility in Louisville.  Phillip Morris is gone but now Ford is licensed to pollute by the amount of ERCs it purchased form Phillip Morris. Result; no net gain in air quality.  

  SIP (State Implementation Plan) or (Stolen from Ignorant Peasants) credits are awarded to APCD of Jefferson County on the basis of the tests done on privately owned automobiles.  An example, Joe Chump takes his brand new car to the VET center where a VET employee, recently released from a penal institution, piles in, performs tests and verifies that Joe hasn't removed any of the integrated pollution control components.  Joe spent plenty on his car and a large amount of the price included pollution reduction equipment.  Wow!  Surprise!  Joe's car passed.  The figures on Joe's test results show his new car is putting out 0.00 and the standard is 10 and Joe drives off to the car wash to clean his seats.  The County Air Pollution Control District pockets a dandy little credit thanks to Joe Chump. 

  SIPS credits, unlike ERCs owned and traded by big businesses, are not tradable and are used to augment the total number of credits needed by the county to meet EPA standards.  For example, if the county needs 100 credits to show improvement in air quality and industry can only come up with 90, then motorists pony up the rest via the VET program and the associated SIP credits.  Any credits in excess of the amount needed to meet EPA requirements are available for industrial expansion or other projects. (Thanks ,Joe).  A fine example of how this works can be gleaned from an article in, of all places, the Courier-Journal, on new power plant construction and how it may mandate auto emissions testing where no reason to test or VET programs existed before.

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2001/07/16/ke071601s51342.htm

  Jefferson County is now in compliance with EPA air quality requirements, and to be considered in compliance air quality standards must have been meet for three consecutive years.  In other words, the air has been cleaned to EPA standards for the past three years.  What has become of the "excess SIP credits" harvested from Joe et al should be a matter of public record.  It is not available on the APCD's web site, but permits and records of ERC trades are:

http://www.apcd.org/

  An idea of the real cash value of tradable credits can be found on the website listed below:

Cantor Fitzgerald pollution credits Mkt.
Emissions Trading - Continuous Clean Air Auction - Greenhouse Gas Trading - SO2 Allowances NOx Allowances - Illinois VOM ATUs - Emission Reduction Credits (ERCs) - RECLAIM Trading Credits (RTCs) - Discrete Emission Reductions (DERs) - Wastewater Credits 

http://www.emissionstrading.com/

Let's see the VET claims more than 28,000 tons annually?  Do the math $$$$$$$$$$$$.

   The VET program, contrary to claims made, doesn't improve air quality any more than it installs pollution control equipment in privately owned automobiles.  It exists solely as a yardstick with which to measure the emissions output so the APCD can determine how many SIP credits it can harvest -- credits motorists earn by buying and maintaining cars with pollution equipment installed.  Tugging at the heartstrings of folks by stating those with chronic lung disease benefit from the VET is hard to swallow indeed when the VET is scrutinized in the cold harsh light of reality.  If the VET can show that it cleaned 28000 tons of pollution from the 498 cars its technicians repaired or adjusted in the year 2000 (Figures from the year 2000 annual report prepared by the VET), it would be nothing short of amazing.  Any credits for repairing privately owned automobiles should rightfully belong to the owners who pay for the repairs.

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