The House of Representatives recently passes the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill that as proposed will reduce green house gas emissions by 83% by the year 2050. Now it will be up to United States Congress
to pass a bill that will be comprehensive and fair to all energy consumers, with out affecting the American economy.
Proponents of cap and trade
The cap: Each large-scale emitter, or company, will have a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas that it can emit. The firm must have an “emissions permit” for every ton of carbon dioxide it releases into the atmosphere. These permits set an enforceable limit, or cap, on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that the company is allowed to emit. Over time, the limits become stricter, reducing pollution, until the ultimate reduction of ourcarbon footprintgoal is met.
The trade: It will be cheaper and easier for some companies to reduce their emissions below their required limit than others. These more efficient companies, who emit less carbon emissions than their allowance, can sell their extra permits to companies that are not able to make reductions as easily. This creates a system that guarantees a set level of overall reductions, while rewarding the most efficient companies and ensuring that the cap can be met at the lowest possible cost to the economy.
Opponents of cap and trade: Many opponents to the cap and trade bill say the legislation has the potential to send the economy of the United States in to a tail spin due to our government restricting and allocating the use of all energy sources on all of us.
The cap and trade bill proposes to limit the supply of fossil fuels that will mean more expensive gasoline and electricity while increasing taxes on all kinds of products people use on a daily basis Many economists and environmentalists from around the world have concluded that over aggressive cap and trade laws will raise the over all costs of living substantiallyfor the poor and middle class, far exceeding the benefits of global warming damage would prevent.
Man-made climate change may be a huge problem world wide, but cap-and-trade proponents need to stop pretending that the solution will cost virtually nothing while producing more jobs than it destroys.
Recently President Obama
himself pointed out, cap and trade can work only when energy prices “skyrocket.” To force consumers to use less energy, prices need to rise to painful levels.
As confirmed in the summer of 2008 consumers responded to dramatically higher energy prices by changing their behavior. This cap and trade legislation contains within it a hidden mandate, one that will force us, like it or not, to change the way we live life dramatically. We will end up with shorter and fewer family vacations, smaller homes and cars, constricted commutes and with the economy struggling, fewer job opportunities, fewer consumer purchases, etc. It comes down to this uncomfortable conclusion that the only way all Americans can satisfy this cap and trade mandate is to do without things that matter to them and their families. We are being asked to drastically reduce and restrict our mobility and freedom that has been the American Dream for many generations.
Cap and trade bill update ( 07/23/2010 )
GO TO THE END OF THIS PAGE TO VIEW VIDEOS OF DEBATE ON CAP AND TRADE !!
For many people in the USA the cap and trade bill in congress has many disadvantages.
Establishing a tax on carbon pollution through the cap and trade legislation continues to be the preferred climate improvement and energy reduction approach of radical environmental advocacy groups and our Democratic leadership. These environmental advocacy groups and the democratic leadership have continued to try to pass the cap and trade bill, despite the fact that for the last three years, the cap and trade plan has consistently failed to uncover any route to securing the sixty votes necessary for passage of the bill in the Senate.
As of July 07 2010 the cap and trade bill has been all but killed due to congress failing to come up with a bill that actually would help the environment.
The original
clean air act does not include a reduction of our carbon monoxide output (carbon footprint)
The analysis of the cap and trade bill as it stood would be a 200 billion dollar tax hike to the tax payers of the United States.
This would add approximately $1700 per household in energy tax on electricity, gas and many of the consumer products we use without any reduction of affect on environmental issues.
Investment in new energy technologies and improving public understanding of good energy consuming efforts to boost the efficiency of American vehicles, buildings, appliances, lighting, and manufacturing have also enjoyed bipartisan support.
Greater energy efficiency and good energy consuming habits will help the U.S. economy get more economic bang out of our energy usage dollars.
Opportunity still exists for everyone to voluntarily take control of our energy future by voluntarily applying existing technology and investing in energy control products that will save money and the environment, and we will not be taxed on the energy we use.
Cap and trade legislation will not be needed if we voluntarily apply:
Producing solar photovoltaic electricity costs about 33 cents per kilowatt hour
Wind generated electricity is about 9 cents per kilowatt hour
Coal-fired production with carbon capture and sequestration is estimated to cost up to 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
Conventional coal-fired plants now costs 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour
Nuclear power comes to 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
If the opponents of cap and trade are correct, the cost to produce energy from all of these energy producing methods above will increase by 40% to 50%over the next ten years.
All goods and services that everyone requires to live will increase in both price along with the energy taxes attached to those products and services.
Energy efficiency
and conservation and changing to smart energy consuming habits:
WOULD RENDER cap and trade as an unneeded issue.
Join the growing group of concerned energy conservation advocates with your opinion on cap and trade at
Cap & Trade
