California Delays Cap-and-Trade

California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols made a surprise announcement this week to delay implementation of California’s cap-and-trade scheme by a year. Chairwoman Nichols claimed that the delay is to prevent “gaming” of the market for energy-rationing coupons, but the existence of functioning carbon markets in the Northeast (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) and in Europe (the Emissions Trading Scheme) suggests that the real reason for the delay was that the administration of Governor Jerry Brown wants to postpone burdening the state’s ailing economy by making energy more expensive.