the EDF pushed for the first full-fledged cap-and-trade system. These rules did not tell polluters that they had to cut their sulfur emissions but, instead, set a nationwide cap on sulfur dioxide, beneath which big emitters like coal-fired power plants could do as they pleased—pay other companies to make reductions for them, purchase allowances permitting them to pollute as much as they had before, or make a profit by selling whatever permits they didn’t use.38 The new approach worked and it was popular among foundations and private
