Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 02/23/2009 6:51:19 PM PST by Plutarch
To environmentalists, there is no more urgent question than addressing global climate change. The new Democrat-led Congress has vowed to pass major cap-and-trade legislation in response.
Later this year. Maybe.
While President Obama said in Canada last week that climate change remains a priority, Congress appears in no hurry to act.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week promised a bill "hopefully" by late summer. The House is unlikely to even attempt to pass a major bill until December at the earliest, according to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Crafting a bill is proving tricky. The Democrats now have a larger majority, but many of the newer lawmakers hail from Midwestern and Southern states where emissions cuts could hurt businesses.
Balancing Act
Brand-new lawmakers like Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, say any bill must be balanced and slowly phase in emissions controls.
"We must be aggressive enough to safeguard the environment, but not so overzealous that businesses cannot participate," said Fudge, who serves on the House Science and Technology Committee.
Cap-and-trade would require businesses to buy permits to release carbon emission as a way of reducing CO2 emissions overall. For states that use a lot of coal-fired electricity, that could mean new expenses for business and new costs for consumers.
It's a complex issue, says Ohio freshman Democrat Steve Driehaus, especially for his home state, which has a lot of high-sulfur coal.
"I am supportive of strong environmental policies, but at the same time understanding of the reality of the cost of coal and the abundance of coal. The challenge we face in Congress is balancing those interests," Driehaus said.
For the House speaker to build a consensus, there has to be a lot of listening on both sides, he says. Pelosi is "wise to be prudent" in how she approaches it...
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Gore is shitting bricks or ice cubes.
during the summer O will go for Cap N Trade
Bueller...Bueller...
It won’t in be one noticable piece of legislation. It’ll be bunches of little things tucked quietly into other appropriation bills in the dark of night, hush-hush Executive Orders, and the EPA upping the ante by lowering the tolerable levels of just about everything.
Just build nukes...what, that doesn't allow the RATs to tax us up the butt? Never mind, cap & trade is the solution.
“I believe we have to because we see that as a source of revenue,”
Just another Tax with a different name
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