Cap-and-trade will rid us of oil
Published: July 19, 2009
On July 3, the House of Representatives passed HR 2998, the American Clean Energy and Security Act — the cap-and-trade bill — which, if also approved by the Senate, would take effect in 2012.
Oil prices dropped overseas on the news.
We do cap-and-trade because we need to get off the hydrocarbon merry-go-round. Coal is our dirtiest fuel, so it’s common sense to reduce its emissions. The industry’s already working on “clean coal.” But anyone who says it shouldn’t cost anything for polluters to do the right thing should quit inhaling directly from the smokestack. There’s no free lunch.
Oil is literally ruining us.
President Bush famously said, “America is addicted to oil.” Coming from an oil man, that’s like the pusher telling the addict he’s had too much. We have 2 percent of world reserves and use 25 percent of world oil production. All the oil in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge would fuel us less than a year. All the offshore oil won’t last much longer. When we run out, we’ll be totally at the mercy of OPEC.
Oil price hikes are the harshest tax on the poor and elderly.
We never know when price hikes are coming, and they’ll only get worse. It’s the most stubborn component of our account deficit, adding more to our debt every year, weakening us as it feeds the regimes in the Middle East that preach anti-Americanism.
They have the oil.
But we have the technology.
Making our cars fuel-efficient weakens their chokehold on us. Doubling fuel efficiency cuts oil demand in half, reduces our debt, reduces their revenue stream, starves anti-American organizations. Developing electric and hydrogen technologies cuts them off completely. When our science succeeds in creating the hydrogen economy, the oil economy will fade, and with it pollution and terrorism’s largest funding source.
Then we’ll be the largest energy producer.
Cap-and-trade moves us closer to the hydrogen energy economy — an economy we will control. As our brave men and women fight on oil soaked battlefields, one thing we can do to help them is cap-and-trade.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
It is vital to our nation’s economic future that we pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Representative Perriello’s support for a transition to a clean energy economy is terrific! If we support this legislation, energy independence may become a real possibility for our country.
According to a study by MIT, this type of legislation will reduce foreign oil imports by $20 billion. “Hayeknows” points out that much of our imported oil comes from Canada and Mexico. While this is true, small fluctuations in supply can have enormous economic impacts, as we have seen recently and in the 70s. We are at the mercy of the Middle East until we bring that $20 billion back home.
The ACES bill will do more than reduce oil imports, though. By supporting clean energy jobs and rewarding innovation and leadership, ACES paves the way for Virginia’s economic future. In 2006-2008, Virginia clean businesses attracted $70 million in venture capital funding. This type of investment goes to the small innovative businesses that a clean energy legislation helps support. Rep. Perriello has again shown his support for small businesses through his vote and the recent unveiling of district 5’s clean energy blueprint (http://perriello.house.gov/uploads/Perriello Energy Blueprint REV.pdf).
hate to burst some bubbles…
Please read the actual legislation. It is not Cap and Trade, but Bait and Switch. The majority of funding initiatives tied to the bill are not targeted for development of alternative resources, but for relief to the displaced workers and another whole treasure trove of earmarks to cover Democrats at risk for re-election. Much of the impact of this bill is uncertain, because it has so many convoluted provisions, but… this is for sure. It will not reduce pollution. It will increase energy costs. And it will transfer jobs, and wealth, outside this country. It says little, does nothing, to develop our own vast energy resources.
That said, hydrogen can be produced—and is—and can be done efficiently (of course, you can do it the hard way, too, as ‘nos’ would have it) but there are several technical issues to be resolved, and no one seems too much in a hurry to resolve them. Sooner or later the guys in some other country will lap us, and put us in the same boat as with every other fuel source. Ironically, the one energy source we’ve devloped best, nuclear, is bannished in favor of other boondoggles (like windmills).
We also protect ourself from Brazil through tarrif restrictions (to protect sugar beet production) and mandates for ethanole produced from corn (a previous gift used to buy votes) as part of our ongoing Big Ag Welfare Program.
And they all lived hapily ever after!!
Sorry to spoil your erroneous vision of energy utopia, but the US imports the majority of oil from Canada and Mexico. Those imports total three times that from Saudia Arabia. Do you consider Canada and Mexico havens for terrorist funding?
“Polluters” do not pay; you pay as the costs are passed on to the end users.
We import Brazilian sugar ethanol for our cars. The Chinese are funding the development of new oil fields off the coast of Brazil, while the US ties itself in knots over “clean energy.“
Where do you think hydrogen comes from? It its is the end product of a highly energy intensive process. It takes lots of coal/gas electrical energy to produce it. If it were competitive to oil, it would have made it to the marketplace a long time ago.
Dream on.
Advertisement