The cost of doing nothing

OK, we all know that by 2009 JEA customers will have seen six rate hikes totalling about 50 percent since 2004. But could rates go even higher if we doing nothing to lower mercury emissions. According to the article "Businesses Rethink Carbon Curbs" in the March 3-4 Wall Street Journal, business such as Wal-Mart and GE are calling for mandatory curbs on greenhouse gases, possibly creating a "cap-and-trade" carbon market. In the article, under a section entitled "Who wins and loses in a carbon market?", The Journal says, "Utilities in the Southeast and Midwest that rely on coal-fired power plants are lobbying for a higher cap or more permits to offset what would otherwise create steep price increases because coal releases more carbon emissions than any other fuel. Conversely, West Coast and Northeast states that rely on cleaner fuels could be more insulated from higher energy costs." Now, mercury emissions and carbon emissions are not one and the same, but might the same things JEA does to reduce mercury (such as burning cleaner fuels, making a bigger efficiency push, and investing renewable energy) reduce carbons emissions as well? And might such investments today protect us from even greater costs down the road? The only thing worse than guaranteed higher prices is when those higher prices themselves are increased.