Pennsylvania Sells $#!* Credits

PENNVEST, DEP Announce Results of Forward Nutrient Credit Trading Auction

The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) and the Department of Environmental Protection, along with financial information services company Markit, has held the first “forward” auction in 2012 for the sale and purchase of nutrient credits in Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A “forward” auction means that the certified credits sold on March 21 will be delivered later and applied to the 2012-15 compliance years. The auction affords wastewater treatment plants and other regulated entities the opportunity to purchase credits to meet their nitrogen and phosphorus discharge limits for these compliance years.
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Credits representing the annual removal of 55,224 pounds of nitrogen from the Susquehanna River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay during 2012 were sold for $4 per credit. Credits representing the annual removal of 30,000 pounds of nitrogen from the Susquehanna River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay over each of the following three years, 2013 to 2015, were sold for $2.98 per credit.

Sounds cheap at twice the price...