Friday, April 24, 2009
Welcome to My New Website!
We've been hard at work putting together a brand new look for this site. Still to come is a more full-featured gallery of images from around the district, as well as a better way for you to communicate just what you're thinking. Stay tuned, and I hope you like it!
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009
CAP AND TRADE HEARINGS
Energy and Commerce Democrats are meeting with President Obama (no Republicans allowed) to mend the division between them on the Waxman-Pelosi-Markey draft. There are two distinct camps: the more moderate Blue dogs known as the Boucher-Dingel camp and the liberal Camp of Waxman-Markey who staunchly support cap and tax and nothing else. So which side will have their arms twisted into submission? I doubt the President is calling the Democratic committee members to his office to make chairman Waxman, Mr. Markey and Speaker Pelosi to move.
At the same time, the task force that will draft a viable alternative that I'm a member of is holding an open hearing with television cameras, reporters and bloggers. Witness like Gov. Engler who heads the National Association of Manufacturers who testified that industry uses 34% of electricity and has 12.3 million jobs at stake. Their estimate is that industry electrical rates would rise 142%! Natural gas prices rise 180%. That would cost industry jobs, estimated around 4 million.
Witnesses state that common sense leads one to conclude that high increases in energy costs will decrease competitiveness of U.S. Industry, so many will close or move out of the U.S.
Ms. Jaeger, a public health expert, states the debate on cap & trade should focus on the balance of public health and cost to people. She mentions that if the Waxman plan is adopted it would result in negligible reduction of CO2 with no realized public health benefits. Keep in mind other countries will add more CO2 in the next generation than U.S. would reduce during the same time. But every one agrees that everyone, every family, every business will pay a lot more for their electricity and gas.
Dr. Calzada from Spain informs that the creation of green jobs in his country is half of what traditional energy jobs were lost. That 90% of the green jobs are installation and temporary, 10% are permanent. He suggests that is why Spain has the highest unemployment in the European Union at almost 17%
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