Cap and Trade Will Severely Harm the Steel Industry
Business groups in the U.S. are split on the measure. Utilities that stand to benefit from the free-permit program support it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers lobbied against it. The oil-refining sector that will receive 2% of the free permits, denounced the measure as “an abject policy failure.” Steel companies also opposed the measure. The domestic steel industry would be one of the hardest hit sectors and could be severely impacted under the cap-and-trade system.
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Under the worst case scenario, the integrated steel operations would move to developing nations without carbon restrictions, such as Brazil. In this case, the carbon emissions wouldn’t be reduced, but U.S. jobs would be lost.