Results tagged “cap and trade”

Considering unemployment is at its highest level in almost 30 years, "you'd think the Obama administration would do everything possible to save existing jobs and create new ones," says op-ed author Jim Constantopoulos, a professor of Geology at Eastern New Mexico University in his recent Sun-News op-ed.

With the unemployment rate standing at 10 percent, concerns about the economy are trumping support for climate legislation. News reports from around the country indicate a growing unease with legislation or regulations that are aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions due to their potential impact on jobs.

American motorists drove fewer miles in 2009, in part due to unemployment. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Trilby Lundberg, author of the Lundberg Letter, says commuting to work--one of the most important reasons for driving--has been "hit in the guts" by unemployment.

In the wake of the bruising political battle over health care reform, several U.S. senators have signaled that they don't want to take up climate legislation during the upcoming 2010 election year.

According to Politico, Sen Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is one of many senators telling their party leaders or the administration to give up on legislation to curb global climate change. "I am communicating that in every way I know how," Sen. Landrieu says in a Politico article.

The Wall Street Journal today published an editorial that explains the "dirty truth" about climate legislation such as the Waxman-Markey climate bill. In a few brief paragraphs, the editorial confirms what we've been saying on this blog for months--Waxman-Markey and similar bills could eliminate millions of jobs in the United States and them overseas.

Yesterday's events at the Copenhagen meeting and in Washington illustrated the difficulty in finding agreement on climate change policy. In Denmark, the United States and China came to an impasse over the monitoring and verification of promised carbon dioxide emission cuts.

China refused to allow international monitoring of its carbon dioxide levels, and the United States balked at joining an international agreement without Chinese emission level verification. Earlier in the day, delegates representing poor nations walked out in protest, claiming that developing nations are not doing enough to reduce emissions.

In this episode, I recap the recent Newsweek-sponsored panel discussion about proposed climate legislation on Capitol Hill.

Panelists included Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Jack Gerard, President and CEO of API. They discuss what the climate bill could mean for the U.S. economy and for the oil and gas industry.

In this episode, I interview Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau, on the potential impact of climate change legislation on agriculture.

On Tuesday, yet another voice spoke out against the proposed climate legislation under consideration in Congress. This time it was Margo Thorning, senior vice president and chief economist at the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), speaking before the Senate Finance Committee.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today voted to send the Kerry-Boxer climate bill to the Senate floor without amendments. Only Democrats were in attendance for the vote, and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mt.) voted against the bill, saying he would withhold his support contingent on the adoption of some pro-agriculture amendments.

A recent poll shows that the more Americans learn about climate legislation, the less they like it. Especially when they realize that it will take money out of their pockets.

How much money? About $2,300 per year per average U.S. household, according to the American Farm Bureau. That's nearly $200 a month.

In this episode, I interview Alan Gelder of Wood Mackenzie, who recently conducted a study on the potential impact of climate change legislation on refiners.

The ongoing debate over the Kerry-Boxer climate bill has tended to focus primarily on two issues: the bill's potential costs and its proposed environmental benefits. But there are at least two other critically important items that have not been addressed adequately by the bill's sponsors. Both were mentioned briefly at yesterday's hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing.

One of America's largest refiners told a Senate panel yesterday that climate legislation could force his company to shutter some U.S. refineries. Bill Kleese, president and CEO of Valero Energy Corp. (not a member of API) made his comments during the second day of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearings on the Kerry-Boxer bill which proposes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in 2020. The Kerry-Boxer bill would likely reduce U.S. refining jobs because refiners would be forced to pay billions of dollars for carbon credits.

This week, the National Journal's Energy & Environment Blog posed several questions about the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. Among them, "What's your take on the chairman's mark and EPA's analysis?" The blog also invited a number of individuals, including API's Jack Gerard, to discuss the bill's strong points, weak points and provide an overall perspective on the legislation.

In the first of a series of Senate hearings about the Kerry-Boxer climate bill today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mt.) said he has "serious reservations" about the bill's "overall direction."

Speaking at today's Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, Baucus encouraged Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to compromise with Republican members of the committee, who have expressed strong opposition to the bill. As Politico reported today, Republicans "see the legislation...as a nonstarter."

Friday night, Sen. Barbara Boxer issued an updated version of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill, and the more we learn about this bill, the more it resembles Waxman-Markey--only worse.

More voices are speaking out against the climate legislation being considered on Capitol Hill. Here's a sampling of some of the statements and studies that have been in the news during the past couple of days.

House and Senate leaders are continuing to push for climate legislation despite the fact that far fewer people believe that global warming is a serious problem, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The survey, conducted among 1,500 adults from Sept. 30-Oct. 4, shows that 35 percent of respondents believe global warming is very serious as compared with 44 percent in April 2008.

Today, inspired by a New York Times weekend editorial, Energy Outlook blogger Geoff Styles discusses the Waxman-Markey climate bill and the legislation's potential impact on gasoline prices.