Obama vows to move full steam ahead, but to use no coal to produce the steam

by Janet Crain
President-elect Obama is proposing to move swiftly to implement climate change, enacting legislation which will include bankrupting the coal plants and sending utility bills skyrocketing. Plus adding 35 cents to one dollar per gallon on gasoline in a cap and trade system. These hidden taxes are unfair and regressive. They tax the very rich and the very poor at exactly the same rate. The student with no job, the unemployed, and the minimum wage earner will pay the same as the wealthiest person. The only difference is the wealthy can afford to pay more. They also can afford to buy a more fuel efficient car and appliances. Reading the list below shows why this cap and trade system is favored by the law makers. The ultimate beneficiaries will be lawyers and so called environmental experts writing the complicated laws that will create a nightmare of regulations. Write to your representatives NOW!

CTC regards carbon taxes as superior to carbon cap-and-trade systems for six fundamental reasons:

1. Carbon taxes will lend predictability to energy prices, whereas cap-and-trade systems will aggravate the price volatility that historically has discouraged investments in less carbon-intensive electricity generation, carbon-reducing energy efficiency and carbon-replacing renewable energy.
2. Carbon taxes can be implemented much sooner than complex cap-and-trade systems. Because of the urgency of the climate crisis, we do not have the luxury of waiting while the myriad details of a cap-and-trade system are resolved through lengthy negotiations.
3. Carbon taxes are transparent and easily understandable, making them more likely to elicit the necessary public support than an opaque and difficult to understand cap-and-trade system.
4. Carbon taxes can be implemented with far less opportunity for manipulation by special interests, while a cap-and-trade system’s complexity opens it to exploitation by special interests and perverse incentives that can undermine public confidence and undercut its effectiveness.
5. Carbon taxes address emissions of carbon from every sector, whereas cap-and-trade systems discussed to date have only targeted the electricity industry, which accounts for less than 40% of emissions.
6. Carbon tax revenues can be returned to the public through dividends or progressive tax-shifting, while the costs of cap-and-trade systems are likely to become a hidden tax as dollars flow to market participants, lawyers and consultants.

http://www.carbontax.org/issues/carbon-taxes-vs-cap-and-trade/

Obama repeats vow to move rapidly on climate issues

By Eric Lichtblau and John M. Broder
WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack Obama has indicated that he intends to move rapidly on one of the most ambitious items on his agenda - tackling climate change.

Speaking to a bipartisan group of governors by video on Tuesday, the president-elect said that despite the weakening economy, he had no intention of softening or delaying his aggressive targets for reducing emissions that cause the warming of the planet.

"Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all," Obama said. "Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response."

He repeated his campaign vow to reduce climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies.

Some industry leaders and members of Congress have suggested that Obama's climate proposal would impose too great a cost on an already stressed economy - having the same effects as a tax on coal, oil and natural gas - and should await the end of the current downturn. A bill similar to Obama's plan failed to clear the Senate this year, largely because of concerns about its impact on the economy.

Obama rejected that view, saying that his plan would reduce oil imports, create jobs in energy conservation and renewable sources of energy and reverse the warming of the atmosphere.

"My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process," Obama said.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/19/america/transition.php

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