Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and admit it, you're already starting to worry about what to get your loved one. Here's a unique option to consider: How about giving them a donation in their name toward the Campaign for Ithaca's Air (C.I.A.) purchase of sulfur dioxide (SOx) allowances in the EPA's upcoming Allowance Auction. You'll receive a special "I Love your Lungs" gift card you can customize to show how much you care about your loved one... and the environment.
So, how do Sulfur Dioxide allowances work?
Sulfur dioxide is the root cause of acid rain in the Northeast and is a major culprit in the acidification of lakes, degradation of cultural monuments, and forest devastation. Sulfur dioxide -- like carbon dioxide -- also contributes to poor air quality, which can greatly impact our health.
Since the Clean Air Act of 1990, the cap-and-trade market has been trying to reduce SO2 and its negative impacts. The "cap" aspect of the market refers to the maximum amount of SO2 emissions released by power plants. Every U.S. company is allocated a certain number of allowances based on historic fuel consumption and specific emission rates.
Companies can decide to reduce their emissions through technological advances, such as adding smokestack scrubbers. If a company is able to reduce its emissions below their allocated amount, they are free to sell their "extra" permits to another company that may be polluting more -- this is the "trade" part. The goal of the cap-and-trade market is to reward those companies that are already reducing their emissions by allowing them to make a profit, and to apply financial pressure to companies that are not reducing their emissions by making them pay for extra permits.
Each permit is worth one ton of sulfur dioxide and permits can be acquired from companies selling them or from bidding on them at the Sulfur Dioxide Allowance Auction, conducted annually by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Like any other auction, companies bid for permits. Therefore, a bid too low won't receive any permits. Companies or individuals with requests that are too high will also not sell any permits. Companies have to bid in the average range (last year's average was about $400 dollars). Colleges and environmental groups can enter the auction to buy up permits to make them unavailable to companies. This is the goal of the Campaign for Ithaca's Air: to buy up and retire as many permits as possible. This will drive up the individual price of each permit and make fewer of them available.
If you're interested in purchasing a share of our College "bid" on Sulfur Dioxide Allowances and obtaining a Valentine's "Love Your Lungs" gift card, e-mail Marian Brown mbrown@ithaca.edu or call me at 274-3787.
Payment for your gift card can be made in cash or by check (made payable to Ithaca College).
Give the "the gift of cleaner air" -- in honor of the card's recipient. The amount you donate is entirely up to you, but think about spending the same amount you would have dropped on a mere token that won't last out the week. How's THAT for a novel Valentine's Day gift that will indeed keep on giving all year long?
Think about it ...
