If, like me, you believe that there’s no good reason not to tap North America’s abundant sources of fossil fuels, and that failing to do so will cause needless economic hardship for millions of Americans, then any celebration you choose to have about the demise of cap and trade should be short and somewhat somber. This was an important first step in rolling back the extremist environmental agenda, but there is still an awful lot of work to be done. If conservatives and libertarians become complacent and foolishly conclude that the end of cap and trade means an end to attacks on America’s energy sector, they’d be making a huge mistake. If sanity is to be restored within the energy industry, the heavy lifting is still to come, because there are vast amounts of money involved.
Companies like GE and ADM, who have made huge investments in green energy markets, aren’t likely too worried about the demise of cap and trade. GE will still be selling plenty of windmills thanks to government subsidies, and requirements to blend ethanol into gasoline will keep ADM’s shareholders quite happy. Energy giants like Exxon-Mobil and Peabody have been made the villains in the energy/environmental debate, but in truth, big oil, coal and natural gas companies have been playing defense for years, while equally big corporations like GE and ADM quietly take advantage of environmental hysteria and cheer on draconian governmental laws and regulations. Those companies don’t need a trading program to continue raking in the big bucks. All they need is for us to continue down the track we’ve chosen. That’s what will make rolling back today’s radical agenda any further so difficult. It’s a two front war, with the Sierra Club and like-minded organizations on one side, and GE and other companies set up to cash in on the “green revolution” on the other.
Now, I don’t have any problem with GE, ADM or any big corporation making lots of money. I don’t even have a problem with a “green revolution,” provided that it actually makes economic sense. But everyone should question the wisdom of government effectively creating an artificial market to solve a phony problem that selectively benefits a privileged few. That plan doesn’t sound all that “green” at all. In fact, it sounds rather red.
The pat of this that is most distressing is the science or lack thereof in support of AGW and even the "Greenhouse Gas Effect" itself. ALthough there are many environmentally damaging toxins released by the burning of "fossil fuels", most of those have been significantly reduced and they are being reduced further. The so called greenhouse gas effect is non-sense and therefore concerns about CO2 are nonsense. Read Dr Martin Hertzberg for scientific references debunking manmade climate change.
Cap and Trade may be dead as a bill, but Obama, through the EPA, will interpret existing laws in such a way as to achieve his "Green Economy" ideas. If the House is taken over by the Republicans, this should stop economically crippling "green" legislation from getting through Congress. 2012 is where Americans will hopefully look to correct the problem at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave.
Could it be the Reid and company are using the Muslim tactic of truce while losing, waiting for the opposition to return to peace, then renew the attack having regained the advantage.
The Reid group war plan is to make carbon based energy production more costly so that green energy production can compete. They are positioned to make tons of money after reaching their goal. BUT the carbon energy guys keep improving things making the Reid group objectives harder to reach. The will not stop, having so much invested to date.
Losing our Middle-Eastern oil fix is vital for our security. Actually, we do need alternate fuel source, but not at the destruction of our economy. We must slowly move to these alternative energy sources, and eventually their prices will decrease, just as computer prices decreased.
We must give some kudos to Senator Inhofe, the only one in the Congress who understands the fraud of the human caused global warming hypothesis and has worked hard to get the message out. I am sure his efforts to inform the Congress had an impact on this decision.
Mark is right. The global warmists have never produced credible observational data that shows: 1. that increases in atmospheric CO2 are due to human activity; 2. that increases in atmospheric CO2 has already caused global warming; 3. that Al Gore is not an alien from outer space.
The predictions of catastrophe come from crude ( at best) mathematical models of the climate system based on assumptions designed to prove the outcome the modelers want. The models start off assuming increased CO2 causes global warming and don't even consider the effects of the sun!
The fight is not over. The EPA has the power to further screw up the economy. At least there has been one victory for the good guys.
Since the last two budgets the administration has proposed includes a large expectation of revenue from a carbon tax, I don't expect them to drop this.
Samuel
Rich,
Don't turn your back on Reid and Co. It won't be the first time that they pretended to quit only to come back with 2000 pages of legislation and 15 minutes of debate on it before passage.
Cap and trade isn't just a sop for the environmentalist wackos. It enables the complete control of the country through the control of energy. They will never give up the attempt to attain that kind of power over the individual.
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Energy costs are going to be artificially and substantially increased next year either way. That will keep the economy tanked and the dp/msm will blame the GOP for it to attempt a congressional comeback in '12 and the reelection of hussein, who wouldn't stand a chance today. Strangling our economy in the hopes it will produce energy breakthroughs is a huge gamble. Sapping huge amounts of capital from the economy into an artificial market at the same time is just insane.