Here in Washington, people are discussing two things: Jim Zorn’s job security as the Washington Redskins’ head coach and health care, in that order. But there’s a $3.6 trillion gas tax on the table that already passed the House and is making its way through the Senate, and cap and trade has Americans all over the country concerned. The $3.6 trillion gas tax figure, which includes gasoline and diesel gas, comes from a new report from Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Kit Bond (R-MO) on the effects of climate …
“There’s a point at which you’ve got to ask yourself, what are we doing here? What’s the point?” That’s Elaine Kamarck, a former Clinton administration official and advisor to then-Vice President Gore, and she’s talking about the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill. In order to garner enough votes to pass the House of Representatives, policymakers made promises that have groups like Greenpeace questioning the environmental effectiveness of the bill. One of the most contentious provisions in the bill is the use of carbon offsets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Offsets …
Do you drive a truck or a farm tractor? If not, do you use any products grown on a farm or shipped by truck? Well, here’s some news: The Waxman-Markey energy tax bill will make all those products more expensive. By artificially restricting use of fossil fuels (which provide 85 percent of America’s energy), the Waxman-Markey bill will drive up energy costs of all sorts. One example is the price of diesel fuel. By 2012, the first year of the Waxman-Markey caps, diesel fuel prices are expected to have risen …
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Select Committee on Global Warming met last week to discuss the impacts of global warming on agriculture and forestry bill. Some of the more interesting testimony came from Ford B. West, President of The Fertilizer Institute, who elaborated on the challenges cap-and-trade legislation presents to the fertilizer industry. West began by noting his industry’s significant efficiency improvements in its use of energy over the past 23 years. However, he cautioned that government policy cannot count on future efficiency improvements occurring at the same pace …
I will go along with this, even though I am somewhat skeptical, if I can be convinced that this is going to work, that it’s practical, that it makes sense. That’s where I am coming from. I am not carrying water for anybody, I’m just trying to make sense out of this.” The “this” Representative Collin Peterson, House Agriculture Committee chairman, is referring to is cap and trade, with the Waxman-Markey bill currently making its way through the House. It’s something Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi recently called “preposterously convoluted.” …
Farming is very energy-intensive. Farmers use a lot of electricity, a lot of diesel fuel, and a lot of natural gas-derived chemicals and fertilizers to grow crops and maintain their farm. So it shouldn’t be surprising a cap and trade program that artificially drives up the cost of energy will unfavorably affect farmers. What may be surprising is how unfavorable these effects are, causing expected farm income (or the amount left over after paying all expenses) to drop $8 billion in 2012, $25 billion in 2024, and over $50 billion …
Economists at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis are digging deeper into the effects of the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation that includes a cap and trade plan to reduce carbon dioxide by 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020 and by 83 percent below 2005 levels in 2050. Today’s victim: Farmers. Our CDA analysts found that Waxman-Markey would adversely affect farmers in a number of ways: • Farm income (or the amount left over after paying all expenses) is expected to drop $8 billion in 2012, $25 billion in …
