Cap and Trade

For those of you who have an interest in the legislation that has the potential to end America's lifestyle as we have come to know it, the San Francisco Chronicle has an in depth look at who cap and trade will impact.

The bill uses the same "cap and trade" approach featured in the legislation passed by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. The Senate bill would cap emissions in 2012 and require them to drop by almost 2 percent a year until 2050. The measure would cover about 87 percent of U.S. emissions - from 2,100 coal-fired power plants, refineries, natural gas processors and factories - and allow those emitters to buy and sell credits to pollute.

Just as gasoline is about to hit $4/gallon and is expected to climb to at least $6/gallon, the congress is going to impose a giant tax scheme on refineries.

Just as Bill Ritter's newly constructed Public Utilities Commission is about to throw its old mandate to keep costs to the consumer down, and replace it with a new mandate for renewable energy at any cost, the Congress is going to impose a huge tax on coal fired plants.

Not that it will do any good, the Republicans will try to stop it by calling Mark Udall's bluff on nuclear power.  Has anyone else noticed that Mark Udall drops the word nuclear from time to time but the word never seems to make it into any legislation he proposes?

"It seems unlikely that as American families face harsh economic times that any senator would dare stand on the Senate floor and vote in favor of significantly increasing the price of gas at the pump and costing millions of American jobs - all for no environmental gain," said Matt Dempsey, communications director for Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

In rides John McCain to the rescue, sorta:

"It seems unlikely that as American families face harsh economic times that any senator would dare stand on the Senate floor and vote in favor of significantly increasing the price of gas at the pump and costing millions of American jobs - all for no environmental gain," said Matt Dempsey, communications director for Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Inflationary times are about to be upon us.  This is our government doing this to us.

Comments

[Allen]

oh.... but there's all those green jobs we'll get it won't matter how much energy prices skyrocket, right? ;)

[a watcher]

Allen

For reasons I don't understand, some, but not all of your comments are going to the spam folder, so it can take me a while to find and approve them.

Just so you know...