Free Republic

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says the purpose of cap and trade is to enrich investment banks..."Attack with what comes up, with what God sends," underscores the need to exploit opportunities to destroy an enemy, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has provided such an opportunity to demolish Barack Obama's cap and trade agenda. It allows our side to totally reverse the focus of cap and trade from protection of the environment, polar ice caps, polar bears, and so on to enrichment of investment banks and similar entities at the expense of the working American. Gillibrand's letter to the Wall Street Journal says...

Energy Policy: A new study shows that Waxman-Markey will increase prices at the pump, deepen our dependence on foreign oil and shred our ability to turn crude into gasoline. Even fuel-efficient cars will still need fuel.Oil may bubble up out of the ground, but gasoline does not. It's made in those ugly little NIMBY places called refineries we are loath to build anymore because we're too busy trying to save the Earth rather than our economy and American jobs. When Hurricane Katrina shut down 20% of our refining capacity in a single day and raised gas prices in a single...

Global Warming: President Obama warns of planetary doom at the U.N. if we fail to pass cap-and-trade legislation. Meanwhile, a former warm-monger predicts decades of cooling as the sun stays nearly "spotless."The president had hoped to address Tuesday's United Nations climate change summit in New York with a finished cap-and-trade bill. Failing that, he hoped he'd at least have a version of the Waxman-Markey bill that has passed the House on his desk before the Copenhagen talks in December to cobble together a follow-up to the failed Kyoto Protocol. Not only did that not happen in the cool summer of...

As President Obama prepares a speech for a joint session of Congress meant to convince the public to pass his health care reform, the next item on his agenda will be Cap and Trade. If passed, it could result in higher utility costs to consumers and industry.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. auto sales tumbled in May as buyers fled from pickups and sport utility vehicles in the face of average gas prices that are now just shy of $4 a gallon. The trouble hit not only U.S. automakers General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), Ford Motor and Chrysler LLC -- which have long depended on sales of pickups and SUVs -- but also trimmed the sales of their top Japanese rival Toyota Motor (TM). But other Asian automakers held up reasonably well. Nissan (NSANY) reported a narrow sales gain while Honda Motor (HMC) and Kia rode American...

Global Warming On the Rocks by: Emily Ham, June 02, 2008 As the congressional curtains open on the Lieberman-Warner “Climate Security Act,” the subjects of higher taxes, job expansion and economic growth are taking center stage in many people’s minds. The act, which deals with controlling levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced by the United States in order to protect the government will be open for Senate discussion for the few following weeks. And while many agree measures must be taken to protect the environment from carbon dioxide levels and such, some people are seeing a flaw in the act...

New York - Unless it's a warmer than expected winter, heating the house this winter will cost consumers more money. Indeed, this fall – even before the first real freeze – the first tank of home heating oil will cost consumers about 7 percent more than last year at this time. Consumers who use natural gas to heat their home will also see price hikes, though they're likely to be more modest. Through July, natural-gas prices were 5.5 percent higher than last year at the same time. In past winters, many consumers have shrugged off the rising cost of staying...

Have You Hugged a Hummer Today? Hybrid vehicles' overall energy costs exceed those of comparable non-hybrids By Shikha Dalmia Ford Motor Company did itself a huge favor recently by backing away from its pledge to bump-up its hybrid production ten-fold in four years. But, as it turns out, the company might have done the planet a whale of a favor too.

"I don't blame Exxon for making the profits ... it's a busines; it's owned by pensioners and widows and retirees. It's fine if they get the money because it's going back to the American stockholders." So said Ben Stein, Economist, author of "Yes, You Can Become a Successful Income Investor! Reaching for Yield in Today's Market," actor and former Nixon speechwriter on "Your World with Neil Cavuto." "The amount of profit on each gallon of gasoline is between six and eight cents. If you cut out all the profit so that Exxon/Mobil went out of business, and Conoco went out...

  For Immediate ReleaseJanuary 21, 2006 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This past Thursday, I visited a thriving company in Loudoun County, Virginia, named JK Moving and Storage. I met with the owners and workers and with small businesspeople from the area, and I discussed my agenda to keep America's economy growing and to help our small businesses stay vibrant and strong. Our agenda for growing the economy and helping small businesses starts with wise tax policy. Our economy grows when American workers and families can keep more of their hard-earned money to spend, save, and...

Russia took Europe to the brink of a winter energy crisis yesterday when it carried out a Cold War-style threat and halted gas deliveries to Ukraine, the main conduit for exports to the West. With a quarter of its gas supplied by Russia, Europe is facing serious disruption and price rises for as long as the dispute rumbles on. Moscow turned off the tap at 10am after Ukraine refused to sign a new contract with the Russian state monopoly Gazprom quadrupling prices. Critics of the Kremlin say the rise was punishment for the Orange Revolution in 2004 which brought in...

Citing the need for America to achieve energy independence as well as aid poor and minority households already suffering from rising heating bills, activists with the black leadership network Project 21 are speaking out in favor of oil and natural gas exploration efforts under consideration for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The U.S. Senate approved legislation on November 9 to allow oil drilling on approximately 2,000 acres - or 0.01 percent - of ANWR's 19.6 million acres. The House of Representatives is expected to consider similar legislation as early as this week. Drilling...

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - The chairman of the Senate Energy Committee says Hurricane Katrina was “a serious wake-up call” about America’s energy situation. Republican Senator Pete Domenici says he used to think fuel economy standards should be left to the marketplace. Now, he thinks they should be increased. Domenici tells C-Span the Gulf disaster and the skyrocketing gasoline costs it unleashed have made it clear more needs to be done to cut energy use. Repeated attempts to force automakers to make more efficient vehicles have failed because of strong bipartisan opposition in Congress. Domenici said those political barriers may be...

Wholesale prices shot up 1 percent in March lifted by the biggest jump in gasoline costs in nearly three years. The big advance in the Producer Price Index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach consumers, comes after wholesale prices edged up 0.2 percent in February, the Labor Department reported Friday. The jolt last month largely came from a sharp increase in energy prices, especially gasoline. That caused the overall reading on wholesale inflation to be worse than the 0.7 percent increase many analysts were bracing for. In another report, sales at the nations retailers rose a modest 0.2 percent...