双语新闻：美国应带头推动碳排放交易市场

2014-05-14 10:53:07来源：可可英语

　　Yet Washington still refuses to act on the principle that prevention is cheaper than cure. Part of its reluctance comes from the boiling frog syndrome. Most Americans accept that global warming is happening. Yet they chafe when confronted with the higher bills they would have to pay to avert it. In a recent Gallup poll, voters ranked tackling climate change last out of 15 priorities. In 2009, Mr Obama tried and failed to push through a cap and trade bill that would have put a price on carbon. Politics makes it futile for him to go through Congress again in the near future. His only options are to use the White House bully pulpit to galvanise public opinion and deploy his executive powers to raise the cost of fossil fuel consumption. He has plenty of scope to go further on both.

　　尽管如此，华盛顿方面仍然拒绝按照预防比治疗更便宜的原则来采取行动。这种不情愿部分源于“温水中的青蛙”症候群。大多数美国人接受全球确实在变暖的观点。但当他们看到为避免全球变暖、自己必须支付的更贵账单，他们就开始愤愤不平了。盖洛普(Gallup) 最近的一项调查显示，在15个优先事项中，投票者将解决气候变化排在最末一位。2009年，奥巴马曾试图推动一项为碳排放定价的“限额和交易”法案，但他的努力失败了。眼下政局意味着，他近期再次向国会提交相关法案将会徒劳无功。他唯一的选择就是，利用白宫“头号讲坛”的地位来刺激民意，并运用他的行政权来提高消费化石燃料的成本。他在两方面都还有很大推进空间。

　　Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon as a pollutant. Next month the EPA will issue new rules limiting power plant emissions. It should follow up with curbs on refineries, cement plants and other polluters. Rule-based economics is certainly less efficient than market signalling. But if the framework is intelligent – and avoids picking technological winners – it can simulate many of the benefits of an actual carbon market.

　　上月，美国最高法院的判决支持了国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency) 将二氧化碳作为污染物来监管的权力。环保局下月将推出新规，限制电厂的碳排放。该局应该接着推出对精炼厂、水泥厂和其他污染者的限制。用法规来改变人们的经济决策，效果肯定比市场信号要差。但如果法规框架设计明智(而不是选择技术上较优的方案)，那么法规可以模拟真实碳排放市场的许多优点。

　　Mr Obama must also do a better job of educating the public. Unfortunately, US environmentalists are fixated with stopping the Keystone XL pipeline – a decision Mr Obama keeps postponing.

　　奥巴马还必须更好地教育公众。遗憾的是，美国环保主义者一门心思关注于阻止拱心石XL输油管道项目(Keystone XL pipeline)的开工建设。奥巴马一直推迟就这一问题做出决定。

　　In reality, Canadian oil sands will still arrive in the US by road and rail, and be exported to China and other markets. Mr Obama should approve the pipeline. But he should make it clear there will be an escalating cost to consumption of oil sands and other carbon-intensive fuels.

　　事实上，加拿大的油砂仍将通过公路和铁路到达美国，也仍将向中国和其他市场出口。奥巴马应批准那个输油管道项目。但他也应明确表示，消费油砂和其他高碳排放燃料的成本将越来越高。

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