Today’s Calamity: Micromanaging Tree Planting
Nicolas Loris /
Not many people enjoy a micromanager – having their boss hover over them monitoring their every move. Well, if Congress passes a cap and trade bill, they will be micromanaging our economy and controlling our decisions. Just one example of many: tree planting.
Section 205 of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill creates a program to subsidize targeted tree-planting programs by retail power providers in “residential and small office settings.” To be clear, we are not against planting trees. They are aesthetically pleasing and good for the environment. But do we need the government funding our tree planting or telling us how and where to plant our trees?
Provisions are written in Waxman-Markey for the creation of “tree-siting guidelines” which regulate the minimum required distance to be maintained between trees and “building foundations, air conditioning units, driveways and walkways, property fences, preexisting utility infrastructure, septic systems, swimming pools, and other infrastructure as deemed appropriate” (Sec. 205, b4 & d4D).