The Waxman-Markey Travesty Isn’t saving the planet grand?

National Review ^ | June 30, 2009 | Rich Lowry

[Delacon]

The cap-and-trade bill passed the House of Representatives shrouded in a fog of willful ignorance and calculated irrationality.

No one could be sure what he was voting for — not after the 1,200-page bill had a 300-page amendment added at 3:09 a.m. the day of its passage. The bill is so complex and jerry-built that even its supporters can’t know how, or if, it will work. And it’s metaphysically impossible for someone to know whether the motivating crisis, impending planetary doom, will ever materialize.

Other than that, it’s a model exercise in thoughtful lawmaking.

The formulation of the so-called Waxman-Markey bill was less traditional legislative sausage-making than an unspeakable practice out of The Jungle. Its architects bought off every possible interest group no matter what the policy consequences until they had a bare majority to slam it through the House sight unseen (a physical copy of the final bill didn’t yet exist when it passed). Mission accomplished, although at the price of a ramshackle bill that won’t succeed on its own terms, even as it introduces costly distortions and invasive bureaucratic controls into the economy.

The basic idea of cap-and-trade is that government establishes an economy-wide cap on carbon emissions and then creates emission credits, which companies can buy or sell among themselves. It is essentially carbon rationing designed to suppress traditional sources of energy.

Because cap-and-trade is meant to create pain in an economy dependent on fossil fuels for 85 percent of its energy, the only way to make it politically salable is to vitiate it. Originally, the Obama administration counted on $80 billion a year from the government’s sale of emissions credits. To win over industry, Waxman-Markey gives the credits away for free. Poof! There goes the revenue.

The bill bestows hundreds of billions’ worth of credits on local electricity and natural-gas distribution companies, as well as on the auto, coal, and oil industries — basically anyone with the ear of a congressman or with a halfway-competent lobbyist.

Then there are the “offsets,” the environmental equivalent of indulgences. A company maintains its carbon emissions but buys an offset for someone else to capture carbon or reduce emissions — say, by not cutting down a tree in a rain forest somewhere. Offsets are notoriously dubious. Waxman-Markey makes generous allowance for them anyway.

The upshot is that an Environmental Protection Agency analysis says that under Waxman-Markey, there will be no reduction in emissions by 2020. The progressive Breakthrough Institute estimates that emissions could continue at their current business-as-usual rate through 2030. Perversities abound. According to the Los Angeles Times, under the bill, the U.S. “would use more carbon-dioxide heavy coal in 2020 than it did in 2005.” Time writes that “the total amount of renewable energy generation under Waxman-Markey would actually be less than the renewable energy that would have been produced without the bill.”

Isn’t saving the planet grand? Waxman-Markey creates an irresistible incentive for industry to repeat the games-playing of recent weeks, as it maneuvers for advantage in Washington and works to push the legislation’s restrictions always off into the indefinite future.

Even if Waxman-Markey were perfectly formulated, it would reduce global surface temperatures by only one-tenth of 1 degree Celsius in 100 years. That’s a negligible difference, purchased at a great price. The watered-down version is still so threatening to energy-intensive industries that it mandates tariffs on goods from countries that refuse to hamstring themselves so foolishly.

Democrats resorted to any expedient to pass Waxman-Markey as a long-term play: Get the bureaucratic structure in place, then work through regulators, the courts, and legislation to tighten the screws later. For them, that’s the ultimate promise of the Offsets Integrity Advisory Board, the Carbon Market Oversight Interagency Working Group, the International Reserve Allowance Program, and all the rest of the vast regulatory machinery engendered by the bill.

President Barack Obama called it an “extraordinary first step.” Extraordinary indeed.

— Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. © 2009 by King Features Syndicate

[Delacon]

Time writes that “the total amount of renewable energy generation under Waxman-Markey would actually be less than the renewable energy that would have been produced without the bill.”

 

This is just an attack on coal, oil and natural gas and the largest single tax in our history. 

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off

Ping me if you find one I've missed.

---

[Delacon]

ping

[Deo volente]

"We destroyed the economy to save the planet!"

[IbJensen]

Dirty rotten scandalous traitorous dogs of Congress! Complicit in the destruction of America!

[RC2]

The people need to stand up and tell them to go to hell. We don’t want the bill.......Call, write letters, send emails telling them to recall that bill. If the Senate votes it in, I’m afraid what the people of this country will do. Being voted out of office will be the least of their worrys. This may be the one that breaks the camels back.

[a fool in paradise]

Waxman Malarkey.

[alstewartfan]

For me the most demoralizing and disgraceful vote was that of CHRIS SMITH of NJ. Does anyone know why THIS man sold out our country? I had thought so well of him; now I hope he’s defeated. I NEVER thought that CHRIS SMITH would go Washington and Marxist! Bob

[vaudine]

It is the biggest attack on freedom ever in the US. It is loaded with regulations that bankrupted CA--i.e evryone must have an environmental impact inspection before selling property--several musts to add to the property, like a plug in for electric cars--another incentive to force people into the Dem fold-more govt. workers.

If Dems have their way, 90% of the country will be govt. workers and govt union members by 2016.

THAT is the beauty of saving the planet thru C & T.

vaudine

[Delacon]

“For me the most demoralizing and disgraceful vote was that of CHRIS SMITH of NJ”

For me it was Mike Castle’s vote. Hell I just cant figure out. His house seat is solid and his senate aspirations are pretty good as well.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Lorianne]

Carbon Credits: A Scam

http://market-ticker.org/archives/1171-Carbon-Credits-A-Scam.html

“We’re 1/15th of the population in question and nearly all of the rest of the people involved are going to dramatically increase their per-capita CO2 output whether we like it or not.

Herein lies the problem: While we emit more CO2 per-capita than anyone else today, we won’t be emitting the most CO2 for very long on an aggregate basis. To actually stop the increase in CO2 emissions we would have to find some way to compel the Asians and Africans to not increase their CO2 emissions.

But all possible means for them to improve their standard of living inherently involve significant and even dramatic increases in CO2 emissions per-capita.

The math is simple: Within a few years China will emit more CO2 than we will. A few years after that both Africa and India will surpass the United States. None of these regions will agree to stop emitting CO2 because to do so is to agree to keep their people perpetually poor and agrarian while we enjoy the fruits of a westernized, industrialized economy.”

[Jacquerie]

For me the most disgraceful aspect was that not single House member outside the leadership knew what they voted for.

Our once republic is now an oligarchy of Hussein, Pelosi and Reid.

[Delacon]

Open, Honest and Accountable Government
We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves, starting with real ethics reform.

The Democratic Party is committed to real ethics reform and meaningful campaign finance reform that protects our rights and ensures that elected officials act ethically — not just within the law, but within the spirit of the law. Democrats offer an aggressive reform package to reverse Republican excesses and restore the public trust.

We are committed to immediate change to lead our country in a new direction, to put an end to Republican business as usual, and to make certain our nation’s leaders serve the people’s interests, not special interests. For us, this commitment spans our lifetime, as we were elected to represent the people, not the powerful.

Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.
http://www.democrats.org/a/national/american_democracy/honest_government/