A Pollution Trading Bibliography

For nearly two years Patuxent Riverkeeper has served on various working groups, and tried to better understand the proposal embedded within the Chesapeake Bay TMDL that would cut to the heart of a citizen’s ability to utilize the Federal Clean Water Act to bring polluters to justice. That controversial subject is "pollution trading" which would allow those with discharge permits to monetize their compliance by entering into agreements to purchase credits that would enable them to defer their compliance obligations. While our group has debated the topic rigorously we have never articulated a formal position on it – although we have raised many questions.

We have raised questions about environmental justice, verification, legality and even the morality of whether such trading confers a private property interest in public trust resources. While there have been some doing earnest work to try and unravel and improve the vague initial plans, ambiguities and those doggedly looking for ways to help jurisdictions fund the Bay Cleanup. But we have found many more unwilling to even debate those questions in the overwhelming onslaught of arm twisting, political momentum, peer pressure and sometimes just plain ignorance or disinterest in any of these very relevant concerns. We feel that too few seem to have taken the earnest time to research the subject and become well informed about the full implications of this proposal on the eve of its implementation.

The following ad hoc bibliography reflects a cross section of just some of the documents we have found in the public domain that discuss the ups and downs of pollution trading. It is provided here as service to our members and the general community. If you know of peer reviewed articles that should be included here, we would be happy to add them to the downloads: info@paxriverkeeper.org

1. Working Paper: How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Maryland Farms, by World Resources Institute How Nutrient Trading
2. The Story of Cap and Trade: Why You Can’t Solve a Problem with the Thinking That Created It; by Annie Leonard Story of Stuff
3. Scoping Study on a Nutrient Trading Program to Improve Water Quality in Moreton Bay; by the Australian Government Scoping Study
4. Chesapeake Bay TMDL: Why the Pollution Trading Provision of the Bay TMDL are Illegal and Harmful to the Bay, by Food and Water Watch Chesapeake Bay TMDL
5. Emerging Issue in Chesapeake Bay Trading, by Joseph Maroon Emerging Issues
6. Bad Credit: How Pollution Trading Fails the Environment; by Food and Water Watch Bad Credit
7. Carbon Capitalists Warming to Climate Market Using Derivatives; Bloomberg News Service Carbon capitalists
8. An Evaluation of Nutrient Trading Options in Virginia: A Role for Agriculture?; Multiple authors Virginia Nutrient Trading
9. Market-Based Approaches to Pollution Control in the Lake Taupo Catchment in New Zealand; by Upananda H Paragahawewa Market Based Approaches
10. Obama’s Cap and Trade Carbon Emissions Bill – A Stealth Scheme to License Pollution and Fraud; by Dprogram.net Obamas Trading
11. Principles for Nutrient Trading; Choose Clean Water Coalition Choose Clean Water
12. Trade Wars: Will Nutrient Trading Save or Spoil Our Streams; Outdoor America Trade Wars
13. Markets Eye Expanding Pollution Credit Trading; Market Watch Market Eyes
14. How Climate Change has Got WWF Bamboozled; By Christopher Booker How Climate Change
15. Nutrient Trading White Paper; Joseph Maroon (Marooon report)
16. Pollution Trading to Offset New Pollutant Loadings– A Case Study in the Minnesota River Basin; by Feng Fang & K. William Easter Pollution Trading to Offset
17. Pollution Trading and Environmental Injustice: Los Angeles’ Failed Experiment in Air Quality Policy; by Various Reclaim
18. Nutrient Trading Preliminary Investigation: Findings and Recommendations Senior Scientists and Policymakers for the Bay Nutrient Trading Subcommittee Senior Bay Scientists
19. Point-Nonpoint Source Water Quality Trading: a Case Study in the Minnesota River Basin; Feng Fang, K. William Easter, and Patrick L. Brezonik Trading Feng et al
20. Pollution trading – savior or scam? By unknown Savior or Scam
21. Water Quality Trading Programs: An International Overview; by Mindy Selman, Suzie Greenhalgh, Evan Branosky, Cy Jones, and Jenny Guiling (WRI) International Overview
22. The Pilot Water Quality Credit Trading Program for the Lower St. Johns River: St. John Pilot
23. Water Quality Trading in the U.S; Richard Woodward Texas A&M University Water Quality Trading in the US
24. Water Quality Trading in NPDES Permits Internal Management Directive December 2009; State of Oregon DER Oregon Study
25. Trading Pollution for Water Quality: Assessing the Effects of Market-Based Instruments in Three Basins; By Katherine Hay Wallace Trading Pollution
26. WWF Hopes to find $60 Billion Growing on Trees; Christopher Booker Growing on Trees
27. Trading the Earth; Sharon Beder Trading the Earth
28. Nutrient Trading to Target Chesapeake Bay’s Water Quality; Rena Steinzor and Nick Vidargas Nutrient Trading
29. Environmental Justice and Nutrient Trading; Rena Steinzor, Nick Vidargas, Yee Haung Environmental Justice