May 18, 2010
GUEST COMMENTARY: The Major Vote on Cap and Trade is This Week
By Alice Click
Here we go down that wrong road again.
Every day folk – like you and I – have a right to be worried about more back door regulations, power grabbing, threats to small businesses and consumers, restictions on using energy, and, of course, higher taxes for everyone.
This time it is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)…
Congress can put a stop to this and that is why we need to call U. S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd right now about supporting the Murkowski Resolution
Climate change has been a controversial topic from both a scientific and policy perspective.
Congress has been struggling with this thorny issue, but has been mired in debates over the costs and benefits of implementing massive new regulations that would put eight (8) percent of the economy into the government’s hands through new mandates, taxes, and restrictions on the use of energy.
Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to rush this process through the back door by moving forward with its own regulations on greenhouse gases.
Not only does this shift this major decision out of the hands of elected officials to unelected bureaucrats, but it also poses a substantial threat to consumers and thousands of small businesses that will be caught in the web of new regulations.
To achieve its goals, the EPA is trying to use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant.
However, that act was designed to target very specific pollutants and was never designed to address something as widespread as carbon dioxide emissions.
Applying the onerous burdens of the Clean Air Act to carbon dioxide emissions would impose tremendous costs across the economy.
In fact the EPA recognizes this threat and has suggested issuing a “tailoring rule” that would exempt small businesses.
This only raises more questions about the constitutionality of the EPA’s actions, because the Clean Air does not allow for that, which leaves the EPA acting without statutory authority.
To avoid this unnecessary rush to implement new regulations before Congress has even concluded deliberations on climate change, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review to prevent the EPA from implementing any new greenhouse gas regulations ahead of Congress.
Sen. Murkowksi and other legislators are right to be worried about costs; the legislation is a throwback to heavy handed, top-down regulation that has produced unwieldy bureaucracies, costly regulations, and mounting government expenditures that impose costs on consumers and stifle economic growth.
This pending vote is THE major vote on cap and trade in 2010. We need to hold our senators accountable on this vote. Tell them the Murkowksi Resolution is a prudent step to avoid a costly and perhaps unconstitutional power grab by the EPA.
Senators Rockefeller and Byrd should be encouraged to support the Murkowski Resolution.
Please call Senator Rockefeller at (304) 347-5372 and Senator Byrd (304) 342-5855.
Alice Click lives in Mount Alto, WV
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
GUEST COMMENTARY: The Major Vote on Cap and Trade is This Week
By Alice Click
Here we go down that wrong road again.
Every day folk – like you and I – have a right to be worried about more back door regulations, power grabbing, threats to small businesses and consumers, restictions on using energy, and, of course, higher taxes for everyone.
This time it is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)…
Congress can put a stop to this and that is why we need to call U. S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd right now about supporting the Murkowski Resolution
Climate change has been a controversial topic from both a scientific and policy perspective.
Congress has been struggling with this thorny issue, but has been mired in debates over the costs and benefits of implementing massive new regulations that would put eight (8) percent of the economy into the government’s hands through new mandates, taxes, and restrictions on the use of energy.
Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to rush this process through the back door by moving forward with its own regulations on greenhouse gases.
Not only does this shift this major decision out of the hands of elected officials to unelected bureaucrats, but it also poses a substantial threat to consumers and thousands of small businesses that will be caught in the web of new regulations.
To achieve its goals, the EPA is trying to use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant.
However, that act was designed to target very specific pollutants and was never designed to address something as widespread as carbon dioxide emissions.
Applying the onerous burdens of the Clean Air Act to carbon dioxide emissions would impose tremendous costs across the economy.
In fact the EPA recognizes this threat and has suggested issuing a “tailoring rule” that would exempt small businesses.
This only raises more questions about the constitutionality of the EPA’s actions, because the Clean Air does not allow for that, which leaves the EPA acting without statutory authority.
To avoid this unnecessary rush to implement new regulations before Congress has even concluded deliberations on climate change, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review to prevent the EPA from implementing any new greenhouse gas regulations ahead of Congress.
Sen. Murkowksi and other legislators are right to be worried about costs; the legislation is a throwback to heavy handed, top-down regulation that has produced unwieldy bureaucracies, costly regulations, and mounting government expenditures that impose costs on consumers and stifle economic growth.
This pending vote is THE major vote on cap and trade in 2010. We need to hold our senators accountable on this vote. Tell them the Murkowksi Resolution is a prudent step to avoid a costly and perhaps unconstitutional power grab by the EPA.
Senators Rockefeller and Byrd should be encouraged to support the Murkowski Resolution.
Please call Senator Rockefeller at (304) 347-5372 and Senator Byrd (304) 342-5855.
Alice Click lives in Mount Alto, WV
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
