Issue Position: Cap and Trade

Issue Position

Cap and Trade legislation supported in Congress will take money out of your pocket and put Americans out of work. In Kentucky we enjoy some of the lowest utility rates in the world. We pay about 7 cents a kilowatt/hour versus 23 cents a kilowatt/hour in Europe.

According to LG&E, "your energy costs will go up significantly and it hurts Kentucky families." By spending more money on electricity, you will have less money to spend on other goods and services. If you spend less on other products, businesses will have to lay people off. People on fixed incomes will have to make a choice. Pay the higher utility bill or spend the money on food, medicine, or other essential items. I dread the thought of an elderly widow sitting in a cold home in the dark because of this legislation.

Businesses energy costs will go up or production will be capped (hence CAP & TRADE, the Democrats are desperately trying to find a new name for this legislation to try to make it sound less horrible). By spending more money on electricity, they will have less money to spend on expansion, inventory and payroll. Obviously they will have to lay people off.
Sometimes things are simple. This is one of those times.

I do not dispute the sincerity or honesty of those seeking to saddle the employers of American workers with Cap and Trade legislation. What I call into question is the nature of the problem it seeks to address and the manner in which it seeks to solve it.

At the heart of this proposal is climate change, both its existence and its degree. With the recent revelations that advocates at the movement's premiere institution, the Climate Research Unit, falsified and/or buried scientific "evidence" regarding global warming, we are left wondering about this issue. Is there global warming? If so, is it natural? Whether cyclic or predominantly man-made, what are the consequences? Remember, we just had the coolest July in Louisville ever in recorded history.

Climate change has become such a politicized issue that any governmental action to address it would be either unguided or misguided or dominated by emotional response. Cap and Trade is no exception. Given the aforementioned lack of objective understanding, we do not need to stifle American industry with job-killing regulations at a time when 1 in 10 Americans are out of work and even more are underemployed.

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