It's all about "cap and trade", which is about taxing something called energy usage of big business, which means big revenue to the federal government, and according to those who are in charge now; global warming is $ for real.
There is no such thing as a tax on business. All that happens is that the price of their product goes up to cover the tax or they go under.
When the price of the product goes up, the consumer pays. Take electricity for example. Production of electricity produces lots of CO2. Tax that CO2 and your utility bill will rise to cover it and them some more because profits are a percentage of revenue.
Now this is a very regressive tax. Power is maybe 2% of my annual budget. If it doubles, I tighten my belt somewhere else, conserve a little, and life goes on. Poor people, and especially the elderly pay a much higher percentage of their income to the power company, and when the price goes up they are really hurt. The tax has taken a nibble out of my lifestyle, but has hurt my grandfather a lot.
Thank you, Hussein Obama.