There is a lot of discussion going on about Cap and Trade in Washington D.C. and I can bet that most you reading this right now have no clue what Cap and Trade even is or better yet, how it can affect your life! You might not be familiar with Cap and Trade but I'm sure many of you have at least heard about all of this "global warming" debate that's been going on and that is what Cap and Trade centers around for the most part. I put that in quotes because "man-made global warming" is very disputed and most knowledgeable scientist agree that it actually doesn't exist. Whether it exists or not isn't why I'm writing this, I'm writing this because I want all of you to be familiar with Cap and Trade and understand how it will affect your daily life if it gets passed in the Senate. I'm not going to go into too great of detail, rather just give you a quick overview and I would recommend doing some further reading to fully grasp this idea!
What is Cap and Trade?
The basic idea is that the federal government wants to impose set limits on six emission gases that they think are causing "global warming". The primary gas focused on is carbon dioxide. The government wants to "cap" these emissions and sell permits to all of the power plants, refineries, and natural gas companies. If a company exceeds the set limit then they will have to pay a penalty. According to the budget President Obama proposed in February, the administration would aim to "reduce greenhouse gas emissions approximately 14% below 2005 levels by 2020, and approximately 83% below 2005 levels by 2050." This proposed system would require companies emitting gases (mainly carbon dioxide) above the cap to buy allowances. Companies that emit gases under the cap would then be able to sell, or trade, their allowances to other companies that need them. This already causes an obvious problem for you, the consumer, because this means that the increase in money these companies have to spend refurbishing their emission procedures, buying extra allowances, and the fines they will pay while doing so will be passed on to you. In short, your power, gas, and water bills will increase considerably.
How much will it cost you?
They are already experimenting with this in Minnesota and when it is fully implemented the average household would see energy costs rise by $823 more per year in 2025. This would be 80% more than under the current laws. That's an awesome scenerio compared to what it would be for all U.S. citizens if the Waxman-Markey bill gets passed through the Senete. Their bill will raise electricity rates 90%, gas prices 74%, and natural gas prices 55%. The average U.S. household would pay $1,960 per year for eight years:
The actual effect it would have on reducing "global warming":
With all of this money being spent by the government and energy companies and all the money you are going to have to fork out individually, you would expect this to actually work pretty considerably, right? Well, if the 80% reduction in greenhouse gases were applied globally, greenhouse gases would stabilize at 450 parts per million. And by 2100, temperatures would rise by just 1.02 degrees C. That would mean 1.75 degrees of warming avoided! One problem, as if that's not already a HUGE problem, India and China have already stated they would not match U.S. environmental goals in order to protect their economies. So not only will this whole thing not work at all and you will be paying THOUSANDS every year for it but all the manufacturer's that don't want to pay the fines will just move their jobs to China and India!
So people, please get informed about this issue, it's time we stop all of this oppression by our own federal government simply for their political gain! Call and/or write your congressman and tell them that you DO NOT want to pay thousands upon thousands of your hard-earned money on a Cap and Trade bill that WILL NOT work in the first place!
- Chase
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