The Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in Rogers City, MI Part 17

By admin On October 19, 2009 · 1014Leave a Comment2009-10-20+01%3A35%3A35admin

Cap and Trade

Cap and Trade was brought to a vote in the U.S. House on June 26th. By a vote of 219-212, the bill passed. Since Bart Stupak was on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the United States House of Representatives, and he is the area’s representative, I sent him an email telling him how disappointed I was that he voted for H.R. 2454–The Cap and Trade Bill. Cap and Trade refers to ‘capping emissions’ and ‘trading carbon credits.’ I have a problem with this legislation on many levels. First of all, global warming is a myth, a hoax, and this whole environmental crisis that is constantly being whipped into a frenzy is based on a lie. His office sent me a response that is quite lengthy:

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Dear Mrs Kuznicki:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). This legislation by Chairman Henry Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey of the Energy and Commerce Committee is a comprehensive bill addressing our dependence on foreign oil, combating climate change and providing 21st century clean energy jobs. I serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee and have been an active participant in the development of ACES. I appreciate hearing from you concerning this important issue.

The legislation produced in the Energy and Commerce Committee was based on past years’ experience and building on the 2005 Energy Policy Act and 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. ACES was not a bill brought before Congress at the last minute. During the week of May 18, the Committee held an unprecedented four-day markup to alter, change, consider and amend the ACES bill. We spent more than 40 hours in Committee, considered 94 amendments to the bill, and finally approved the measure out of the Committee on May 21, 2009. I then spent the next month working with my colleagues in Congress to improve the bill before its consideration on the House floor on June 26, 2009. I voted in support of the final bill, which now awaits action in the U.S. Senate.

For the past 15 years, I have served on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations where I heard, questioned and examined experts, witnesses, scientists and skeptics on global warming. Some individuals will point to a cold day, a cool summer or fewer hurricanes as “proof” that global warming is not occurring! While I respect these differing opinions, the whole body of evidence and an overwhelming majority of experts and scientists agree that carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases pollute the air we breathe and endanger our planet.

I believe it is in our national security interest to address global warming, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and revitalize our economy with new clean energy jobs. More than 70 percent of our daily oil consumption is imported from other countries. Some of those countries have used their oil to disrupt our economy, support our adversaries and sponsor terrorism. It is imperative that the United States develop alternatives to our reliance on oil.

As ACES developed, my priorities were to protect existing Northern Michigan jobs, create new jobs through developing alternative energy technologies and make sure that unreasonable costs are not passed on to consumers.

There are a number of myths circulating about the cost of this bill that are simply untrue. Overhauling our nation’s energy policy will not be free, but significant steps have been taken in ACES to protect our most vulnerable industries and citizens. The increased energy costs some consumers will see in the short term are far outweighed by the benefit the legislation will bring to our overall economy. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the average net cost for a family of four 10 years from now will be $175. This includes potential costs of electricity, heating, fuel and other associated costs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that average household net costs would be $80 to $110 per year, less than $10 per month.

There are other related economic benefits to you and our country, for which it is difficult to attain a precise dollar figure. These include:

oTransitioning to energy independence, free of expensive and volatile foreign sources of oil. Countries such as Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Libya all play a significant role in setting worldwide oil production rates and prices.

oIncreased incentives for Michigan’s auto industry to create cleaner vehicles. The domestic auto industry will receive free allowances under the cap-and-trade program to help develop plug-in electric vehicles.

oFuel and energy savings for consumers. As our energy sector transitions to renewable and energy saving practices, the cost of oil and feedstock for electricity generation will go down. Consumers will also benefit from low-cost energy efficiency technologies in their homes, offices and as part of their daily lives.

oNew renewable energy efficiency standards in ACES provide opportunities for Northern Michigan industry. A number of projects in Northern Michigan in renewable energy and energy efficiency are under way, ranging from advanced cellulosic ethanol, waste-to-energy projects, carbon-capture and sequestration of coal-fired carbon emissions, and more will receive incentives under ACES.

oIncreased technological development, construction and manufacturing that comes with transitioning to a clean, renewable energy sector. Iron ore and steel will benefit from infrastructure developments for wind energy, high-speed rail corridors and other new technologies. The timber industry will gain from new avenues in biomass use for alternative energy production. Michigan’s economy will benefit from a retooled manufacturing sector devoted to new energy projects.

I worked on ACES to create jobs in Northern Michigan and throughout the state. The Michigan timber industry will benefit from expanded use of woody biomass for energy production and carbon sequestration projects. Our automotive industry will receive incentives to develop energy efficient electric vehicles. I worked to make sure the bill brings job growth to our industrial and manufacturing sectors, while protecting consumers and benefiting our environment.

One change I worked to include is defining “renewable biomass” to incorporate timber resources that were off limits in the original draft legislation. We have a large forest industry that will play a vital role in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, while benefiting the economy of Northern Michigan. I fought to include a broader definition of woody biomass that now includes all timber from federal timber sales as an eligible fuel source for renewable energy projects. Fuel stock eligibility should be based on proper sustainable and healthy forest practices; not excluded for arbitrary reasons. Our timber industry, paper mills, biofuel power plants, lumber and farming industries all will benefit from this new definition.

I was successful in including our iron ore industry as an energy and trade intensive industry. Iron ore mines in Northern Michigan operated by Cliffs Natural Resources will receive carbon allowances so Cliffs Natural Resources can produce quality, low-cost iron ore to compete with foreign imports from Brazil, China and other countries. Along with the increased incentives for auto and domestic manufacturing for clean energy technologies, the iron ore and steel industry will see an economic benefit from this legislation and spur development of the proposed iron ore nugget plant.

ACES establishes a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade system, but originally left out how to properly regulate and oversee a new carbon credit financial market. The financial impact of cap-and-trade on utilities, businesses and households will depend on whether allocations are properly distributed and verified by the EPA, and if excessive speculation on Wall Street is controlled in the carbon financial markets. I was successful in adding a version of my Prevent Unfair Manipulation of Prices (PUMP) Act to ACES. This section of the bill will grant the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) broad authority to regulate carbon and energy markets to prevent excessive prices based on speculation, fear and greed.

America can responsibly reduce harmful emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming and grow our economy. Congress has previously provided tax credits and other incentives to promote the development and use of clean coal technology, wind, solar, geothermal, ethanol, and other biofuels. In addition, Congress has also worked to promote energy efficient businesses and homes. The increased use of cleaner burning fuels and improved efficiency will help energy users reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

My goal of creating an energy policy that helps end our dependence on Middle Eastern oil can be accomplished in ACES. The bill also provides important economic protection to ensure Michigan’s most vulnerable industries, such as iron ore mining, steel, concrete, timber and paper production, are not placed at a competitive disadvantage to their foreign counterparts. It also ensures consumers are protected from unreasonable energy price increases.

ACES is endorsed by a number of organizations with economic interests throughout Northern Michigan including Dow Chemical; Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott Minerals; American Transmission Company, the provider of electric transmission in the Upper Peninsula; United Steelworkers; United Auto Workers; AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department; and the National Farmers Union.

ACES is now pending the Senate where it faces an uncertain future. If passed by the Senate, the legislation would then be subject to a conference committee to work out differences between the two versions. If these differences between the House and Senate are worked out, I would then have to review the conference committee legislation thoroughly before determining whether to support it.

Because climate change and energy policy are global problems, Congress and the Administration must engage the international community to promote greenhouse gas reduction in all countries. Europe has had laws reducing its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for some time. I am pleased our committee and the House of Representatives has produced a legislative initiative to finally address global climate change, energy independence and create clean energy jobs.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns. Please feel free to contact me again regarding issues that concern you in the future.
Sincerely,

BART STUPAK
Member of Congress

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If you are still reading this after that garbage email, I’ll tell you what I did. I read the bill, and made a speech about it at the Onaway Fourth of July Tea Party. Here is that speech:

The Cap and Trade bill just passed by the United States House of Representatives will now go to the Senate for passage. The Senate will apply different language in the bill to make it more appealing to members of the Senate who need to be convinced that the bill is in need of a yes vote.

In short, the bill is designed to decrease energy usage and tax consumers, businesses, manufacturers and namely, coal plants to provide revenue to the state and federal governments to develop solar and wind energy unable to produce the amount of energy currently consumed.

After reading numerous articles that describe the contents of the bill, I decided to actually read the bill.

This is what it will do:
Mandate that every household change whatever is necessary to become more energy efficient by introducing economy-wide reduction goals.
-that means you will need to replace any part of your home that does not meet federal guidelines for energy efficiency, including windows, doors, insulation, washing machines, dryers, furnaces, water heaters and so on.
-it also means that you will need to lessen your consumption of energy even if you do all those things
-if you fail to comply with energy efficient standards, your consumption of energy will be rationed.

John Dingell, a representative from the southeastern corner of Michigan said, “Cap and Trade Is A Tax and It’s a Great Big One”

Indeed it is, not only does it increase taxes substantially, it doubles electricity rates not only for your household but for your grocery store, your workplace, and so on. That means that the cost of your food and will go up, and your job may be threatened.
Another downstate representative wrote, “Cap-and-tax will essentially kick working families when they are down. In 2008, approximately 21 percent of all utility accounts were overdue, with folks carrying past-due balances, on average, of $160 on electric bills and $360 for natural gas.”

2. The bill mandates that the use of fossil fuels (defined as coal, oil and natural gas) be phased out, and the use and development of electric plug in cars be phased in.
-the bill says that using oil makes us more likely to outbreaks of war, it forces us to use less by increasing prices on gasoline and diesel fuel
-it wishes to simultaneously conserve home energy and create a whole new electric use–cars

3. It mandates that each State’s fleet of vehicles be in compliance. Also requires the retrofitting of every government building, every public institution including schools and colleges.
-meaning that the State of Michigan, already strapped, the State with the worst economy of all 50 as well as the highest in unemployment will have to set up a new bureau to regulate and implement the use of electric vehicles, and has to find money in the budget to change the furnaces, windows, doors, insulation of colleges and schools.

4. Writes into federal law the assertion that Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant.

5. Creates an additional branch of the IRS to tax the use of carbon.

6. Creates a cap on industrial emissions beginning in the year 2012 that tightens every two years thereafter until current emissions are the same as they were in the year 1910.
Downstate Representative Fred Upton wrote in The Hill: The proposed carbon mandates under consideration would mean that the United States could not emit more in the year 2050 than we emitted in 1910…The only nations in the world today that emit at the level mandated in this bill are struggling nations, such as Belize, Jordan, Haiti and Somalia. In order to reach the 80 percent reduction mandated by cap-and-trade, emissions from the transportation sector would have to drop to zero, as would those from all electricity generation, and we would still need to reduce all other sources of greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent.

Of course there are massive regulations specifically targeting coal plants.

Coal plants will have to be tested for emissions at the stack mouth, and if found not in compliance, they will need to pay exorbitant sums of money in the form of a penalty tax.

They will be mandated to decrease their energy output during peak demand, when energy is most needed, like hot summer days and cold winter nights.

They will be mandated to provide carbon sequestration, a pie in the sky idea not even developed yet, pushed heavily by Al Gore, where the carbon emissions are sent under the earth instead of in the air. According to the EPA itself, “Carbon sequestration has been experimented with for a number of years, and it works in the laboratory, but we’re not 100 percent sure how well carbon sequestration works in real life, because it could be many years before we see some of that carbon we think was sequestered escaping back into the atmosphere. So, unless we have studies that cover many decades, we’ll never know if the sequestration works. There are various methods that we think work better than others, but until we have long-term studies, we won’t know for sure.”

The bill requires that a coal plant force carbon dioxide underground while at the same time protects the entire area that the coal plant will be sitting on from being force-fed carbon dioxide.

This bill kills that plant.

Representative Bart Stupak not only was proud to vote for this bill, he helped write it.

We need to contact Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, now.

If we the people do not stop this bill from becoming a law, by calling our representatives and senators and generally raising hell, we will all be broke with no hope for new jobs from the coal plant.