Coal – It’s what’s for US

At least that’s what one would think Rick Boucher and Cecil “I Own Rick Boucher” Roberts would believe. After all, a vast portion of the Ninth District is “Coal Country.” Apparently not, according to this release by Roberts’ UMWA. I’ll restate the question I previously asked: How does cap and tax protect good paying coal jobs? Answer: It doesn’t. Capping carbon emissions and then allowing trade allowances for these credits will do nothing but enact a National Energy Tax and thus seriously threaten the coal industry. That’s the whole point behind the Waxman-Markey bill. They want to tax coal out of usage in the United States. What does that leave? Hundreds of miners out of work with no prospects for jobs that pay equally as well.

What benefits would the United States gain environmentally under a cap and trade system? Little to none according to the Heritage Foundation:

 

Waxman-Markey Bill: Dumb and Dumber

• Waxman-Markey Global Warming Tax: The cap-and-trade tax proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) is disguised as environmental legislation when it would have little impact on global temperatures. In fact, it is a massive energy tax that promises soaring household energy bills, major job losses, income cuts, and a sharp left turn toward big government.
  • And It Keeps Getting Worse: The original draft of Waxman-Markey was so bad for the economy that moderate Democrats demanded it be changed. The new version, believe it or not, is much worse. Compared to no cap and trade, real GDP losses increase an additional $2 trillion, from $7.4 trillion to $9.6 trillion
  • And Why Is It Getting Worse? Attempts to reduce costs to consumers in the current bill do ease some near-term economic pains, but because "pollution permits" are handed out as subsidies, debt is driven up, interest rates increase, and businesses significantly reduce the investments that drive the overall economy, resulting in a more costly bill.
  • Green Jobs Are a Myth; Real Job Losses Are Not: For every "green job" created, others are wiped out. Compared to no cap and trade, average unemployment increases in the new bill an additional 261,000 jobs, from 844,000 lost jobs to 1,105,000 lost jobs in the current version
• Your Family Will Pay: Waxman-Markey will raise electricity rates 90% after adjusting for inflation, gas prices 74%, natural gas prices 55%, and an average family's annual energy bill by at least $1,500.

And What Do We Get After We Tax the Weather?

• The Ultimate Outsourcing: India and China have repeatedly said they would not match U.S. environmental goals in order to protect their economies. Cap and trade will merely move manufacturing jobs to China and India.
• Environmental Status Quo: All of the outrageous costs associated with this bill may at best result in 0.2 degree drop in temperature by the end of the century, and most likely even less.
• Massive Corruption: The New York Times reports that cap and trade "is almost perfectly designed for the buying and selling of political support through the granting of valuable emissions permits to favor specific industries and even specific congressional districts" (May 20, 2009).
• An Alternative That Supports American Taxpayers: Instead of appeasing a radical environmental agenda, President Obama should give us access to all energy sources, including domestic oil production, nuclear energy, coal, and new renewable fuels. Instead of new taxes, the President should aim to lower gas and electricity prices. When government impediments are lifted, America's energy entrepreneurs can develop innovative and market-driven solutions to our energy needs.

The problem is that Cecil Roberts and the UMWA are sweeping Boucher's support of Waxman-Markey under the rug. I posted about this, but no seems to be paying attention, I know you all read stuff, but the complicity here is staggering considering Roberts' rhetoric. The question we ought to be asking Roberts, Boucher and the UMWA, is how does cap and tax protect good paying coal jobs? Boucher's song and dance routine about being middle of the road is getting him nowhere. We've all seen the protest at his DC office and the arrests that followed. Being middle of the road does nothing but get you hit by a tractor and trailer.He should stick with being liberal, he's better at it.