Cap and tax

LITTLE ROCK — IN ORDER to make the Clinton Library by 8:30 in the morning . . . . It'll take 20 minutes to shower and shave . . . shove down breakfast, about 5 minutes . . . distance from door to door should be about . . . divide by three, carry the two . . . .

When you have to count backwards in order to know when to set the alarm clock, you know it's too early for an inky wretch to be driving. The roads aren't safe at that ungodly hour. Ah, but Claiborne Deming was speaking at the break of 8:30, so another few hours of sleep would have to be sacrificed to inform the reading public.

The place was packed. You'd think this Claiborne Deming character would be some hot-shot chairman of Murphy Oil's executive committee or something.Which, of course, he is. It seems a lot of people were interested in what he had to say about this cap-and-trade legislation that's just passed the House and is now crawling through the Senate. It was standing-room only. (Note to the friendly folks at the Clinton Library: Air conditioning is nice this time of year in Arkansas. You might want to give it a try.)

The idea behind cap-and-trade goes something like this: The government would set a limit on how much carbon stuff the coal-fired energy plant down the road can chug into the air. If the plant, in order to meet demand, has to go over that limit, it can buy credits from another company that's polluting less. Supposedly this would encourage companies to clean up their acts, for it'd be in their financial interest to put less carbon in the sky.

Being in the oil-and-gas business, and being the former president and CEO at Murphy Oil before he got his current gig with its executive committee, you'd be forgiven if you thought that Claiborne Deming might have a bias one way or another on cap-and-trade. But that doesn't mean he's wrong. He could even be right.

To start with, when it comes to global warming and ways to slow it down, suppose this country did get serious. Very serious. Suppose the United States returned to covered wagons and turned off the lights. How much good would that do if China and India and the rest of the fast-developing world kept churning out coal-fired plants every week? We're using the same air, right?

And that's right where Mr. Deming started. This country is pretty much postindustrial now, he pointed out, and good ol' American carbon dioxide has flatlined. But China, just mainland China, will probably double its carbon emissions by 2030. How is reducing America's carbon footprint going to help if that most populous of nations (plus the rest of the world) doesn't pitch in? It's a good question. A good answer would be welcome.

MR. DEMING laid out the problem for the hundred or so of us Friday morning, just to show how cap-and-trade, or what he calls capand-tax, would affect the United States in general and Arkansas in particular.

If the country's going to cut emissions by 83 percent over the next 40 years, which the bill aims to do, Arkansawyers would have to cut our driving down to about 6,700 miles a year. Today, the average Arkie drives about 12,500 miles a year. So, unless cars get re-e-e-ally good gas mileage in 2050, we're going to have to cut down on driving to grandma's so often. Or the grocery store. Or to work. Or, as Mr. Deming points out, we could just all drive till April. Then park the cars and hoof it the rest of the year.

You'd imagine that a businessman like Mr. Deming would be good with numbers. And lots of them can be found at www.arcaptrade.com. (It's a well-designed website; we recommend.) But his point was that your lifestyle is fixin' to change if this legislation goes through, and you aren't being told that.

He has suggestions, though, about how to reduce pollution and still truck lettuce in from California. (Pointing out flaws in proposals is only half the fun. The other half is pointing out a better approach.) For example, the government could give companies tax incentives to buy diesel engines, which are much more efficient than regular engines. And these aren't your daddy's black-smoke factories, either. Diesels have come a ways since then.

Americans are already driving less, using less energy, and generally doin' what comes naturally. Remind us to tell you the story of the not-so rural neighborhood in which every other house seems to have chickens in the backyard and a garden next to the house. We've often wondered on our walks how many gallons of gasoline that saves when it comes to trucking produce to your nearest supermarket.

And here's another good suggestion: more nukes. Claiborne Deming says France generates 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants. The United States, about 20 percent.

Blame it partially on the No Nukes concerts back in the 1970s. (Gallic logic must have been impervious to the Three-Mile Island hysteria.) What do you think Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, James Taylor and the rest of the musical gang might say now if they were asked about their scare tactics back then? Imagine if they'd been supporters of nuclear reactors for energy, and Americans had a nuclear plant on just about every bend in the river. Imagine paying 50 bucks a month for all your energy needs-and getting cleaner air on your morning walks, too.

But thanks to a movie called The China Syndrome (thanks so much, Jane Fonda, for your services to your country in war and peace) and other such scares, Americans are still freaked out when it comes to nuclear plants. Result: We've deprived ourselves of the cleanest, most efficient and-to judge by the safety record-the safest of energy sources.

Good businessman that he is, Claiborne Deming points to the profit-and loss sheet: In the end, if cap-and-trade ever passes, it's going to cost you. Because companies paying to sell you electricity are going to charge you more for it.

There were a lot of movers and shakers at Claiborne Deming's presentation. Two people we didn't see there: Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both U.S. senators from Arkansas. But as more and more influential people in Arkansas hear Mr. Deming's message and appreciate its clarity and logic, public opinion can sway our senators. Thankfully, business leaders like Claiborne Deming are taking a strong stand and showing some leadership. Arkansas could use more voices like his.