Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 12/05/2009 9:24:25 PM PST by greenwill
Cap and trade legislation may be one of the biggest issues facing the oil and gas industry according to Dr. Daniel Fine, Associate of Policy, Strategy and Development at New Mexico Tech. He also serves on the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy which is hosting the presentation by former Shell Oil executive, John Hofmeister tonight.
“What is the purpose to cap and trade?” asks Fine. “Is the purpose to raise revenue? Is the purpose to lower CO2? Or both?” The bill (Waxman-Markey) coming out of the U.S. House of Representatives claims both purposes without a clear policy declaration.
(Excerpt) Read more at nmcep.nmt.edu ...
“What is the purpose to cap and trade?” asks Fine. “Is the purpose to raise revenue? Is the purpose to lower CO2? Or both?” The bill (Waxman-Markey) coming out of the U.S. House of Representatives claims both purposes without a clear policy declaration.
The bill is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate.
Fine says determining the price or cost for one metric ton of carbon dioxide is the biggest omission in the bill that needs to be addressed before moving forward.
“What is the trigger price which would affect an investment from the utilities and others to move towards low carbon technology? How much should CO2 cost before it triggers a corporate strategic decision to invest in technology which would lower the greenhouse gas emissions?” asks Fine.
Without the price per ton of CO2, nothing can be implemented.
The house version has been worked over in the Senate with many changes. Fine says in the House bill, only 2% of the allowances (or credits) have been awarded to the oil and gas industry as opposed to 37% to the utility industry. “The Senate is currently looking at that in terms of equity,” said Fine.
Also there is no reference in that bill in support of nuclear energy.
“Nuclear energy, in terns of cap and trade, is a central part of the issue because it is emissions free,” added Fine.
Recognition of that in terms of allowances and credits would put nuclear energy in the forefront of greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
It would also assist the nuclear energy industry in rewards to financing new reactors. They could capitalize the credits to assist the bottom line.
The omission of nuclear energy in the House should be subject to discussion and debate in the Senate, says Fine.
Fine thinks a cap and trade bill, in some form, will be out soon and will probably be a moderate or reasonable version of the House bill. It will be less costly, more reasonable and an adjusted timeline for the implementation of it.
Fine says the focus on cap and trade creates a “a potential to reexamine the oil and gas industry, particularly the gas production.”
“There is growing recognition that the discovery, exploration and production of new gas, particularly shale gas, has changed supply and demand and put natural gas in a surplus position in the United States. In that way, the gas producers would be qualified as a low carbon or lower carbon emissions source than coal. So I think there is a changing dynamic of recognition of the gas industry based on the new surplus expected from shale gas,” Fine added.
I would dare to say that the average idiot out there has no clue how miserable their lives will be if this cap and trade legislation ever goes into effect.
It is to enslave the working class American who will be severely burdened by the high cost of heating and energizing his/her home and commuting to work.
Little if any income will remain for family substenance, creating a very toxic (but necessary) relationship with government and the aforementioned industries.
Profits for the aforementioned utility, energy and fuel companies will skyrocket, enriching their management and government beyond comprehension.
This legislation is an out and out catastrophe for our economy and way of life. These people are insane. You will see unemployment in double digits from now until kingdom come.
>>“What is the purpose to cap and trade?”
>
>It is to enslave the working class American who will be severely burdened by the high cost of heating and energizing his/her home and commuting to work.
I may be a bit biased, but I’d rather just shoot the taxman and not pay this mandatory-tax/enslavement-bill.
Actually, you are wrong.
Most of the energy companies will be hammered by this.
Those TRADING in “carbon credits” might get rich, but the actual production of energy will get clobbered.
Some utilities would profit from cap and trade, while refiners would lose, report finds
Snips: Exelon, which owns a large fleet of nuclear generators, would actually make money from cap-and-trade, to the tune of $1.7 billion annually, the report says. The basis for the analysis is the Kerry-Boxer bill that will be marked up tomorrow by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Another winner: New Jersey-based NRG, which owns gas, coal and nuclear plants in Texas. Point Carbon says cap-and-trade would be a net gain for NRG, because it would benefit from free pollution allowances to meet the "cap" in markets like Texas, where natural gas sets the price. NRG also owns power plants in eastern states where coal sets the price of power, and could recover its carbon costs through price increases in those markets. NRG has been one of the most vocal supporters of cap and trade, spending $1.4 million in 2008 to lobby Congress. Its chief executive, David Crane, has testified at numerous hearings to urge that Congress create such a system.
Now it's clear why many utilities support cap and trade, while oil companies oppose it.
In other words, permit prices dictated the rise and fall of consumer prices, even when permits had been free for energy producers. And when an energy research group at the University of Cambridge looked at the European experience, they also agreed: ...in theory, power producers pass on the opportunity costs of freely allocated emission allowances to the price of electricity.
Cap’n’trade law puts government in control of every business, every industry, every home, and every individual in America.
Carbon treaty puts an end to the notion of national sovereignty. It subjects the US to an international oligarchy.
We are debating the end of the republic. Pass this bill and it is our generation that buries the republic we inherited from better men than we.
And I will dare to say that the average leftist moron politican (ie DemocRAT) has no idea of how miserable their lives will be if they try to pass this bullcrap (yet another anti-capitalist, anti-American) legislation.
But as dense as they are, yet still, they will try to pass it. Let them reap as they have sown.
You can stop right there. And add "global redistribution of American taxpayers' money".
Who will really get clobbered are Mr. and Ms. Taxpayer. That is the objective of Cap and Tax.
Don’t let the MSM win this.
Show everybody you know (best ClimateGate clips):
A political and economic system based on collective ownership of the means of production and distribution. Socialists claim that their system of government and worker ownership bases production on human needs rather than on the profit motive.
what you say is insanity, bosworth should not go and that woman looks like a rabid dog when she smiles, i dont know how she got pregnant with them ugly kids
follow the money
I just despise obama and the democrats for what they are doing to this country. The MSM is complicit. Do they think this won't affect them and their loved ones? I'm praying that if obamacare and this cap and trade obamanation pass, people will finally see the whole picture and we will overwhelmingly take back all three branches of government and reverse ALL of this crap by demand.
We can reduce CO2 emissions by about 50% in one day:
Abort all Democrats, regardless of how many trimesters old they are.
It's my right to choose.
Don’t fall for the populist crap.
Cap and trade is BAD for the energy business, at least as far as coal and oil and natural gas are concerned.
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