Cap and Trade

What is Cap and Trade?  Basically this is were the government will tell businesses how much CO2 they can produce and if they produce too much then they will have to either pay higher fees and taxes or they will have to buy “Carbon Credit” from other companies that produce less than their CO2 cap. This is supposed to help us fight “Global Warming,” but in reality it will only raise our energy costs and send companies to other countries that don’t have Cap and Trade policies. Companies will not be able to afford these higher taxes and fees, so they will instead pass these costs on to the consumer. Even President Obama as a candidate said that energy prices will go up. It is likely that energy could go up us as much as 90% in some areas of the country.

Here is what President Obama said in April 2008 as a candidate while in San Francisco:

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted. ... You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know - Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it - whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”

Here are some things that Congress Mike Pence (R-IN) said about the Cap and Trade:

“While this plan may have been crafted with good intentions, it clearly does more harm than good. The onerous costs that will result from this legislation will only serve to push unemployment up further as small businesses and factories will be forced to cut jobs and even close their doors for good. Those businesses and factories that survive will do so only by passing their increased energy costs onto consumers, forcing them to bear a bigger financial burden.”
“Not only that, but the plan fails to live up to its ostensible concern of protecting the environment. The truth is that this misguided cap-and-tax plan will relocate manufacturing plants overseas to countries with less stringent environmental regulations, essentially negating any possible emissions reductions by transporting pollution to another part of the world.”