The coalition is fading fast
It hasn’t been well-publicized but over the last week three corporations withdrew their membership from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership – Conoco, BP America, and Caterpillar cut ties with the group in the wake of recent questions about the accuracy of the data used to support manmade global warming.
As Myron Ebell from the Competitive Enterprise Institute noted:
In dropping out of the U. S. Climate Action Partnership, BP America, Conoco Phillips, and Caterpillar are recognizing that cap-and-trade legislation is dead in the U. S. Congress and that global warming alarmism is collapsing rapidly. We hope that other major corporations will soon see the light and drop their support for cap-and-trade and other energy-rationing legislation.
These announcements are most welcome, but they do not mean that we can relax our efforts to defeat and roll back energy-rationing legislation and regulations. Many policies and proposals that would raise energy prices through the roof for American consumers and destroy millions of jobs in energy-intensive industries still pose a huge threat. These include the EPA’s decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions using the Clean Air Act, environmental pressure group efforts to use the Endangered Species Act to stop energy production and new power plants, the higher fuel economy standards for new passenger vehicles enacted in 2007, presidential executive orders, and bills in Congress to require more renewable electricity, higher energy efficiency standards for buildings, and low carbon transportation fuel standards.
Worthy of note that the three dropouts are two energy companies and a heavy equipment manufacturer, companies which would likely be in favor of alternative energy if they felt it were a profitable way to go.
Frankly, I was a little surprised to see my friend Jane Van Ryan downplay the withdrawal of two energy companies given her closeness to the situation. Then again, she points out that the unraveling of the climate change hoax is happening on many levels – everything from record cold and snowfall across the country to “hiding the decline” to the legislative failures both she and Ebell point out.
Yet big corporations are keen about shifting sides in a debate when they sense they’re no longer on the winning side. Most Americans don’t mind the occasional recycling program and taking other steps to protect the environment – that is until they feel compliance switches from voluntary to mandatory, as it would for cap and tax and other government mandates. As you’ll see Sunday (can you say foreshadowing?) the Audi “green police” commercial hit close to home because it’s just believable enough to be discomforting.
In the meantime, this may be a good opportunity to reward these companies for their farsightedness and belief in capitalism. Certainly they’re still going to have their lobbyists bending the ears of federal and state legislators, but at least in this way they have determined that government won’t be the solution to the problem.
The wholesale job slaughter
This post will actually tie together two recent ancilliary points I made.
In my post last night I briefly mentioned the heartache of the local construction industry as far as maintaining its job number went, and in discussing the proposed purchase of 5 acres for additional parking I alluded to new state stormwater regulations. A little-noticed release from the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus did a nice job of tying the two together with a nice bow on top:
The construction industry has been hit especially hard by job losses in Maryland. An analysis by the Department of Business and Economic Development estimates that 45% of Maryland’s total job loss has been from construction employment (Economic Pulse, September 2009)
To be successful, a jobs strategy for Maryland must focus on measures to stimulate private sector growth in the construction industry. Instead, the O’Malley administration is proceeding in exactly the opposite direction.
(snip)
Overzealous bureaucrats have devised stringent new regulations without a grandfather clause. Those few businesses attempting to recover from the economic downturn by financing projects in the pipeline will be dealt a second blow in May 2010 when all projects would be required to meet these new standards.
The new regulations have infuriated legislators who voted unanimously for the 2007 bills (SB 784 and HB 786 – Stormwater Management Act of 2007). The proposed regulations far exceed anything imagined by the legislators that supported the legislation. Legislators also questioned why MDE Secretary Shari Wilson failed to appear in Annapolis and respond to their questions this week.
If the O’Malley Administration is serious about job creation, the Governor will direct Secretary Wilson to change these regulations. First, existing projects that have already applied for environmental permitting need to be grandfathered under the old rules. Second, the regulations must broaden the scope of what is considered redevelopment so that developers are not prohibited from using 50% of the site for open space (which obviously does not make sense in some very dense urban areas in places like Baltimore City).
Otherwise, the only new jobs created under the O’Malley employment strategy will be those directly funded by federal bailout monies. The private sector will continues to be too over-taxed and over-regulated to lead the recovery for Maryland’s unemployed.
The one bone to pick I have with the bearer was not assuming MDE would do the worst possible job of kowtowing to the environmentalists – the bill shouldn’t have passed unanimously because allowing bureaucrats license to do their damage is a sure invitation to the disaster we’ll have once May comes. But it did and the damage will be done.
I’ve contended before that the state should put a moratorium on new environmental regulations for at least a half-decade until we can truly determine whether the laws in place are working or not. Instead, those who “measure” the quality of Chesapeake Bay tend to have a vested interest in seeing more regulation so they put a thumb on the scale in favor of more restrictions. I doubt some of the more militant types wouldn’t be above fudging the data in order to slow or stop development in Maryland – there’s a lot of money involved in that version of hiding the decline.
One decline we can’t hide is the decline in development and employment since the crew currently in Annapolis was placed in charge. It is indeed time to go back to the drawing board and draft regulations which give the construction industry a chance to thrive. Aquatic life is important to this state, but to me jobs are a priority.
A use for Al Gore’s writings is found!
I think this is hilarious. Sad for those reduced to enduring the situation, but hilarious. It comes from a group called Freedom Press, which is part of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. They’re the same group whose “Freedom Minute” I occasionally feature on my Friday Night Videos:
It has been reported in the London press that poor old-age pensioners are having to resort to buying books at thrift shops to burn to keep warm during the prolonged bitterly cold weather in the United Kingdom. In response to this humanitarian crisis, Freedom Action is calling on former Vice President Al Gore to join an effort to collect and airlift copies of his science fiction bestsellers to British people in dire need.
“We are collecting copies of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Our Choice, and Earth in the Balance and will send them to Oxfam in the UK to distribute for free to vulnerable people trying to survive the cold weather,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Freedom Action. “We call on Mr. Gore to co-operate in our effort to relieve human suffering by providing copies of his books for burning in stoves and fireplaces.”
“It is appropriate that Al Gore’s books should be used to help keep poor people warm,” Ebell explained, “since the principal reason the British government is totally unprepared to deal with the brutally cold weather is because they have fallen for the global warming myths propagated by Gore himself in his bestselling books. Burning Gore’s otherwise worthless books to keep people from freezing is their highest and best use.” (Emphasis in original.)
While I’m generally not a proponent of book burning as censorship, given the current weather we are facing here on Delmarva - with much below average temperatures forecast for the next several days – those who are in such dire straits that they can’t afford wood for their stoves might be well-advised to stock up on Al Gore’s books, which are likely to be found in the bargain bin at reputable closeout stores and flea markets everywhere.
I know, there’s a larger point to be made and perhaps it’s not politically correct to use the poor to make a political statement. (The other side never does that, do they?)
Great Britain is America in 40 years (or less) if we continue on the path we are on. Like Reagan, Margaret Thatcher did her best to stem the tide of socialism in her country but all her gains were reversed by those both inside and outside her Conservative Party. While there are a few voices of sanity “across the pond” (Daniel Hannan and Lord Christopher Monckton come to mind) most British political voices rival the shrillness of our own left.
We strive to emulate their “more equitable” system of health care and green policies without realizing that they are more equitable only in their misery. Why a former industrial power has fallen on such hard times is answered easily once you consider the political path they have taken over the last half-century or so (with the exception of Thatcher’s tenure.)
There was a reason we broke away from their kingdom in the first place, so let’s not go down their path now.
Friday night videos episode 18
Well, well, well…after a three-week hiatus for the holidays I’m back with a bunch of stuff. You thought I’d quit just because the calendar turned? Au contraire.
Let’s begin by pointing out the REAL problem in Washington, at least according to the Center for Individual Freedom.
If the government would stop spending so much they would need less of OUR money. That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Spending on a state level is the message this protest was scheduled to address. From AFP-Maryland:
It’s going to be cold, but then again most state capitals outside of Honolulu are shivering these days. The national AFP group took a look around the recent global warming summit and this is what they saw.
As I recall, Copenhagen endured cold and snow all during the conference; then again, it’s winter. The Washington News-Observer dragged Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas up to the Capitol roof so his ears could fall off. Actually, he just had his take on Pelosi and climate change.
Now if we need a cool spell this summer, we could have this debate in Washington during the heat of July. Al Gore always seems to bring a chill.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is obviously raking in the big bucks now to up the ante.
Otherwise, it seems like only government has big bucks. But Rep.Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan tells the Washington News-Observer that we can’t spend our way out of a recession.
And he’s right. The only thing taking from the private sector to return it there does is create busy work on the pass-thru and allow government to pick winners and losers.
The folks at Our Country Deserves Better have one idea for a loser come November.
Since the Democrats have already had two of their members decide not to stand for re-election it’s going to be interesting to see if they have the same strategy in mind for Senator Reid if his poll numbers continue to tank as Dodd’s and Dorgan’s did.
The concept of “transparency” has been big in the news lately. The Sunlight Foundation chimes in with their belief that 2009 was a good year for the concept.
But when it comes to health care, the GOP begs to differ.
In truth, not all of the blame for this can be placed on the President because Congress sets their own rules – but he’s sure not showing any leadership on this.
Lastly, we have one of Maryland’s own who shows that she completely misunderstands the purpose of the census. Once again from WNO:
The census is to determine proportional representation for the House of Representatives, period, end of sentence. If I fill out the census form it’s going to say three people live at my domicile and that’s it.
On that contrarian note another edition of FNV comes to a close. I’ll surely have more fun stuff next week.
More jobs by the boards
In what’s become a familiar refrain, experts were “surprised” to find the economy lost 85,000 jobs in December instead of reversing the nearly two year trend of job losses.
Yet there’s one industry which has been crying out to help but gets the cold shoulder from the Obama Administration. While it may not be politically or environmentally correct, we still need oil and natural gas but the federal government doesn’t seem to want to play ball with their industry. Instead, they place more obstacles in the way.
When an industry directly or indirectly supports over 9 million jobs it seems to me they should have a better place at the economic table. But instead those in charge now are spending our stimulus money on “green” jobs that are little more than a political payoff to their union buddies (at the expense of some of their union brethren in the energy industry.) Needless to say, I would rather have an increase in jobs financed by the private sector than one where the funding is either confiscated from all of us or created out of thin air.
It’s pretty much beyond argument that the “stimulus” has failed to achieve its desired result of keeping unemployment below 8 percent. Since there is no logical manner of truly determining what constitutes a “saved” job the only yardstick we have to measure success is the government employment statistic which continues to show jobs being lost. The only reason the unemployment rate remained at 10% was the people dropping off at the other end who have become totally discouraged and stopped actively looking for work.
Yet here’s an industry which would love to spend its own money to create jobs, but needs government to get out of the way and open up land for exploration. Unfortunately, those who value endangered species over endangered livelihoods hold sway in the government right now and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is having so much fun being an obstacle he won’t go back to Colorado and run for their suddenly vacating governor’s chair.
With this sort of attitude from Washington, don’t be surprised if double-digit unemployment isn’t here to stay.
Relinquishing the lead
We’ve finally pretty much gotten off the topic of health care reform and Congress is taking a break – thank goodness for small favors. (Now if we could get the regulators to take a few weeks off, perhaps the nation may catch its breath.)
Before the holidays began, though, my friend Jane Van Ryan told me about a post by the Institute for Energy Research at their blog, which also drew some comments from her at the Energy Tomorrow blog. She suggested it may not be a bad topic to explore in the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day and I agreed – hence what you see here.
Count me among those who wonder just what happened to common sense in this country. The history presented by IER presents a litany of poor decisions in the wake of a threat to our industrial superiority and quite possibly our way of life. While I’m quite aware that oil, coal, and natural gas aren’t going to last forever, the idea of abandoning all three in the name of “green” energy (based in turn on the dubious theory that mankind is warming the globe through excess carbon emissions) makes me wonder if those in charge of our nation really don’t want to cede global leadership to a tyrannical Communist nation.
Maybe this is a poor time for the “what if” scenario I bring up (considering it’s the holidays and all that jazz) but the process of placing ourselves at the mercy of other nations for our immediate needs once again places us in a similar position as we were in 1973 and 1979 – many may not be old enough to recall gas lines stretching around the block and purchasing of gasoline only allowed on odd or even days depending on your license plate number. (Random thought: what happens if you own a letter-only vanity plate then?) As I often say in one manner or another, it’s pretty tough to make your Ford Focus run on wind power or depend on the sun to move your Toyota pickup.
One also has to wonder how many jobs are being created in Canada and other nations by the Chinese investment while we play around and wait to see which companies will be benefitted most by the cap-and-trade lottery going on in the halls of Congress and bowels of the Department of Energy bureaucracy. As the IER points out, unlike us the Chinese aren’t well-blessed with energy supplies of their own so they have to be aggressive in securing the energy for their growing needs.
While many on the left would argue that the current market has been shaped by government policy favoring the consumption of fossil fuels, I think the role of our current fuels of choice would have been played out regardless of these policies. Our leadership in technology made the world conform and that was helped along by finding methods of powering our needs derived from sources which were both cheapest and easily convertible. For years we maintained our growth through domestic oil but eventually we needed to begin getting more and more of our supplies from overseas. Part of the reason was the playing out of domestic oil fields but the other part was seeing more and more prospective areas placed off limits by do-gooder environmentalists and increasing regulations on drilling and exploration by the federal government. Oil companies simply found it easier to go to other nations, extract their supplies, and bring them back here as a measure for cost effectiveness. A similar fate is shared by the natural gas and coal industries - although they don’t have the same amount of foreign competition, overregulation makes it difficult to take full advantage of the abundant supplies we still have.
Now we find ourselves behind the eight-ball because our appetite for energy isn’t being quenched by the supply we have. The oil, coal, and natural gas we need is senselessly locked away under land and ocean areas deemed off-limits by a federal government which seems determined to move to “green” energy whatever the cost in tax revenues and leasing fees uncollected and jobs not created (or saved, for that matter.)
On the other hand, our rivals in China are unhindered by these regulations and for them it’s, “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” As I see it, those in power inside the Beltway seem only too happy to allow someone else to becomes the world leader but damn it, I’d at least like to see them put up a fight.
We can put so many people to work if we were only willing to give the oil and natural gas industry a chance to do so. There’s nothing wrong with building windmills and solar panels, but a true energy palette should have some shades of brown and black to go along with green. Brown, black, and green can be a prescription for prosperity for the red, white, and blue.
Hogan: shocked about electric rates
Remember the 2006 campaign when then-Governor Ehrlich was supposedly in the employ of utilities like Baltimore Gas and Electric? You know, those pesky high electric rates didn’t quite disappear overnight when Martin O’Malley came to town.
Today, Larry Hogan responded to Martin O’Malley’s newest attempt to distract voters from his record of failure and broken promises. This week, O’Malley’s showboating in the press involved electricity rates, which have risen by 90% since he became governor.
“It’s becoming really predictable,” said Larry Hogan. “To try to reverse sinking poll numbers, O’Malley is willing to promise anything, like lower electricity rates, or create meaningless small business government task forces. Governor O’Malley has always been good with rhetoric, it’s his record that has caused his wide-spread unpopularity.”
“Voters will not forget O’Malley’s disingenuous promise during the last campaign,” Hogan continued. “He was elected primarily because of TV commercials promising to stop the BGE rate hikes. But after three years of grandstanding and showboating, rates have risen 90%, far more than they were ever projected to rise.”
“Meanwhile, O’Malley and the pro-tax Democrats that run the General Assembly have passed multiple regulations and taxes on energy production, delivery, and usage,” Hogan said. “These actions will only serve to raise rates even further.”
“Again it comes back to showing real leadership and tackling problems in a comprehensive way,” concluded Hogan. “A quick fix of artificially limiting electricity rates is not a real solution. If O’Malley is serious about easing the burden on working families, he will roll back the crushing tax burden and stop using energy policy to regulate behavior.”
While those of us out here in the hinterlands haven’t seen the 90% increase other areas of the state have endured, Delmarva Power hasn’t exactly held the line on rate hikes either. Making the problem worse is the fact that our state is a net importer of electricity and will continue to be for the foreseeable future – we can build all the wind farms, solar panels, and other ‘green’ energy resources we want and it would hardly make a dent. (Now, working with the old standbys coal, nuclear, and natural gas may get us somewhere.) The problem will only get worse when the economy picks back up – for now we have somewhat of a reprieve because of the recession.
But the second-to-last paragraph in Hogan’s statement holds the key. Over the last few years, we have seen a number of bills passed to address the phantom problem of global climate change – taxing and regulating ourselves into the box of economic retardation, particularly against other states who choose to deal with the reality that our actions have little to do with climate change and that the best solution to pollution seems to be a balance between capitalism and common-sense regulation. Unfortunately, our General Assembly seems to change the rules of the game so often it’s never clear just which restrictions work well to combat the problem of pollution and which are just there to step on the toes of freedom-loving people and entrepreneurs. (My thinking is that most fall in the latter category.)
What might be best for Maryland is placing a moratorium on new restrictions for a few years in order to see how the current crop is doing. The one drawback I can see with this approach is that those who judge whether a regulation ‘works’ or not are also the same people who stand to gain from additional regulation in the form of tribute coerced from taxpayers and voluntarily given by those who feel government is the solution. (Yes, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, I am talking about you.) If the Bay was becoming cleaner simply by what’s in place now the CBF may not have much of a reason to exist anymore, so they just might be putting their thumb on the scale now and then.
We have enough of an issue with federal government interference in our lives that items done by the state garner little attention. But we need to be just as vigilant there as well as the local level. It’s a tough job, made more difficult by those who get a taste of political power and crave more, like Martin O’Malley.
Jobs for the taking – but who wants them?
For a long time, I’ve contended that one piece of solving the puzzle of energy independence is getting to our own supply of oil and natural gas – supplies we have but are locked away by federal regulations.
An ancilliary benefit of domestic oil and natural gas exploration is the creation of thousands of new jobs. Hey, that’s not a bad idea when unemployment is 10 percent, you think? I know my friend Jane Van Ryan at API thinks it’s a good idea too, and she sent this along to me. Call it a hot tip if you will, I just call it common sense.
The Obama administration has missed an opportunity at its jobs summit by not actively engaging the oil and natural gas industry – an industry that supports 9.2 million American jobs and is poised to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs with the right public policies.
During a media teleconference held ahead of the White House jobs summit, API Chairman Larry Nichols and API President and CEO Jack Gerard outlined how the oil and natural industry – which represents 7.5 percent of GDP – is ready, willing and able to create new jobs and provide the energy that America needs to sustain a successful economic recovery.
“Clearly, the White House missed an opportunity to include one of the biggest employers and wealth creators in the nation,” said Nichols, who is chairman and CEO of Devon Energy Corp. “The gas and oil industry supports 9.2 million jobs. We know what it takes to create a job, and we know what it takes to preserve a job.”
Gerard added: “We are not asking for any handouts. We don’t need stimulus dollars or subsidies. We just need access to develop the resources we will need to fuel this economy, and create thousands of new jobs.”
“The American people have spoken on this topic clearly,” Gerard added. “In poll after poll, they said they want additional access to the nation’s resources. Congress heard the outcry, and lifted the moratoria on new offshore development. But a de facto moratorium has been put in place by this Interior Department.
“Access is essential to produce the energy this country needs.”
Gerard noted that the oil and gas industry is already one of the largest creators of green jobs. The industry invested $58.4 billion in carbon mitigation technologies between 2000 and 2008, more than any other private industries or the federal government. Using a measure by the Center for American Progress that 2 million jobs are created for each $100 billion invested, the oil and gas industry has created nearly 1.2 million green jobs.
In addition to providing access, Gerard and Nichols said policymakers should stop proposing policies that would kill American jobs. Specifically, they said new taxes and ill-conceived climate change proposals are job killers and discourage the development of domestic energy.
“Our industry does not operate in a vacuum,” Nichols said. “It is integrated with all other industries. Huge tax increases lessen our ability to create jobs. Our industry can’t prosper unless all the other industries, and the consumers, prosper.
“Higher taxes destroy jobs, and impair our economy.”
Last sentence first…got that right! But it’s no surprise that President Obama didn’t invite any oil or natural gas executives to his job summit because it doesn’t fit in with his template of so-called “green” jobs. Maybe he’d rather create jobs with his “stimulus” at six figures of our hard-earned tax money a pop.
Of course, the naysayers will say that this is old, dirty technology and we need to move on to new sources of energy. They talk about “peak oil”, which we have been at over most of the last century - at least until new finds push back the eventual day of reckoning. In fact, this year worldwide oil finds are at their best since 2000 because of new and better technology in finding and accessing supplies. On the other hand, so far I haven’t yet seen the car that runs on solar or wind technology – even the foreign cars still run on good old unleaded.
And the old saw about reducing our dependence on oil from unfriendly sources like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela? Well, drilling and finding sources here certainly leaves those countries free to make their money from someone else, doesn’t it? I like leaving my money in America as much as the next guy (although I grant that some of the oil companies selling domestically are foreign-owned) and isn’t the complaint by the greenies that we send so much of our money overseas to feed our oil habit? Sounds like problem solved to me.
But in this economy it all comes back to jobs. And it’s not just drilling and exploring – there’s also refining, transportation, and marketing necessary to get oil from well to gas tank and natural gas from recovery to your furnace (or to the power plant, as a number of electric generation facilities run on natural gas.) So a true jobs summit would not have excluded the oil and natural gas industry, which tells me President Obama wasn’t really as interested in creating jobs as he was creating a photo-op for himself and industrial leaders not in his doghouse.
There was a saying in the summer of 2008 when gasoline was $4 a gallon – “drill here, drill now, pay less.” We very easily could add a fourth two-word phrase to the saying: “create jobs.” What do we have to lose but maybe a couple percentage points off the unemployment rate? You know, that would get the jobless rate back to the 8% they promised when the stimulus was passed – and it wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime.
So President Obama and Congress: free up the energy companies and let them fuel our economic engine back up. The people of America who take the jobs created will thank you.
Friday night videos episode 15
Since I skipped the weekend of Thanksgiving the return episode is bursting at the seams with stuff, so let’s get cracking!
This one is short, sweet, and to the point. It could be the theme for most of my FNV episodes and it comes from one of my favorite Senators, Jim DeMint (via the Washington News-Observer.)
So – what IS going on?
My blogging friend Bob McCarty went into the belly of the beast recently, crashing a strategy conference for the HealthCare Now gang – yep, those fools who think single-payer health care is the answer. Tim Carpenter is Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, and probably one of the seven people who voted for Dennis Kucinich for president.
And that’s not all – Bob has a stack of articles and video of that conference you can find here. Bob also covered a St. Louis-area event called the “Million Med March.”
Obviously Bob McCarty gets around, doesn’t he?
And Americans for Prosperity gets around as well. Here’s video from a recent town hall meeting with my state Delegates Jim Mathias and Norm Conway.
On a larger level, they’d also like a check so they can run this commercial on national TV. Heck, I’ll run it and they’re welcome to donate to my cause:
Seriously, this does make sense, particularly when the whole manmade climate change house of cards is tumbling down.
Looking forward to 2010, all indications are that immigration will be a hot-button issue. I can almost guarantee that Marc will be commenting on the statement by Rep. Steve King (this also from WNO.)
Somewhere there’s a middle ground, but I don’t believe in rewarding lawbreakers. I guess it comes down to what’s considered punishment enough for their transgressions (hint: it’s not letting them get away with it.) Of course, it may help if the federal government would get its act together, as Janice Kephart of the Center for Immigration Studies points out in this case study:
Then again, we have the OTHER gang that couldn’t shoot straight in Washington. House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner points this out in a video, my third from the Washington News-Observer.
I’m sure that naysayers will be pointing out the recession began under President Bush (since his adviser Larry Lindsey is featured in this video) but let me remind you that unemployment normally was in the 5% range under him – not in the double-digits and climbing.
I like to save the best for last. One of my favorite writers is Ann Coulter because she has a biting wit and style which influences how I write. So I enjoy the fact I can share this with you both this week and next week, because it’s in two parts.
You’ll get to enjoy part two of Coulter next week, which will hopefully be just as good as this week was given the fact I’ll have about half the material to work with. (That Washington News-Observer team was a busy one, wasn’t it?) Until then, you’ll just have to read my blog rather than watch it.
AFP meeting wrapup
Since the Maryland GOP made mention of various local chapters of Americans for Prosperity in their convention reports last week, this may perk up their ears when they find out what’s going on locally.
On Thursday the Wicomico AFP chapter met with about 40 people in attendance. They had a jam-packed speaker schedule which featured three men: Bob Behlke, Vice-President of Consumer Affairs for Choptank Electric Cooperative, John Cannon, president of Wicomico County Council, and John Palmer, the president of local government watchdog VOICE.
First, though, AFP co-leader Julie Brewington briefly went over the Senate’s health care bill, which was going to be a substitute amendment for a bill which had already passed the House (H.R. 3590). The 2,074 page amendment mentions the word “tax” 183 times and is only “deficit neutral” because it uses 10 years of taxation (starting immediately) to pay for six years of expenditures (beginning in 2014). One heckuva shell game you have going there, Senator Reid.
Turning to our scheduled speakers, Behlke began by praising the group, saying he’d “never seen this kind of interest” but wondered aloud where it was several years ago. Much of Bob’s discussion centered on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, better known as “cap and trade.” He pointed out that the 930 local electric cooperatives fought this bill, but could only get a few things in despite having a former Congressman, Glenn English, as their lobbyist in Washington.
One thing Behlke warned the group about was trying to be obstinate in opposition because if you lose, you forefit political capital – “that’s the real world” of Washington. Moreover, Nancy Pelosi “knows she has 40 votes to dole out” given the large Democrat majority in Congress. The goal of Choptank and other rural electric cooperatives: “we want a bill that’s fair” as well as affordable and achievable.
Bob also noted (and had handouts available for) the impact a carbon dioxide tax of $20 per metric ton would have on the region, as electric bills would increase 12 percent. Going to a $50 per ton tax would raise rates about 20 percent because co-ops would be forced to pass their increased costs on.
But the two biggest hurdles to stopping the bill are “ignorance and apathy” according to Behlke.
One thing I pointed out during a brief question-and-answer session is that Maryland already has a similar program in place called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. So far it hasn’t impacted utility bills to a great extent, but coupled with onerous regulations the impact will surely be felt in the future.
John Cannon then spoke to us about the county’s budget situation. In his introduction, Joe Collins, co-chair of the local AFP, asked, “does a good captain head into a storm or evade it…we don’t have to head into Rick Pollitt’s ‘perfect storm’.”
John didn’t relay a whole lot of new information to those who hadn’t attended the county’s budget meeting a week prior, although he revealed that the County Council was inclined to ask for more cuts and less reliance on reserve funds to make up the shortfall, which was $7.2 million ($4 million in revenue shortfall and $3.2 million in state cuts.) One positive was that the latest $360 million in budget cuts from the state did not affect county revenues.
Cannon did say that he was “appalled” with the goings-on at the federal level and believed that, in the future, the state’s “maintenance of effort” for education needs to be more easily waived to help counties in keeping their budgets balanced.
Local political gadfly and Delaware resident Joe Albero then asked once again about the prospect of a new main library in Salisbury. It was a request that, when originally presented to Cannon’s fellow County Councilman Joe Holloway inspired Holloway to ask the library board, “did you lose your mind?” Given the warnings we’ve had about the present financial crisis Holloway added that County Executive Rick Pollitt has been “asleep at the wheel.”
One “silver lining” which Cannon conceded was that the county is in a “stage of cleansing” its finances, but Cannon also warned that there’s pressure to repeal the revenue cap from without as well because the state regularly criticizes Wicomico County for having a “self-imposed” revenue cap in place. As we all know, Martin O’Malley would be lost with a statewide revenue cap but maybe Marylanders would have a little more money to spend on their own needs and wants.
Finally, John Palmer made a brief presentation which reinforced several of Cannon’s points and again went over a couple of charter amendments VOICE is considering asking to be placed on a referendum next year – one to reduce the County Council from seven members to five, the other to have large capital projects be approved by referendum. Palmer told the assembled group “the power lies in you” to get this done as petitions would require 10,558 signatures – or the County Council would need a 5-2 supermajority to place that on the ballot.
One good piece of news John Cannon could give Palmer is that an effort is being made to put the county’s budget online, since getting a copy is prohibitively expensive. (I think Wicomico County could do without that slight bit of revenue.)
The lengthy meeting was AFP’s last for 2009. Hopefully the e-mail problems which have plagued the local chapter and may have dampened attendance slightly will be fixed as AFP Wicomico begins its first full year.
Chamber caves
Well, chalk another one up to manmade climate change hysteria. From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
November 3, 2009
The Honorable Barbara Boxer
Chairman
Committee on Environment and Public Works
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510The Honorable James Inhofe
Ranking Member
Committee on Environment and Public Works
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510Dear Chairman Boxer and Ranking Member Inhofe:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes climate change is an important issue for this Congress to address. The Chamber stands ready to work with Congress to resolve this issue in a bipartisan manner that recognizes regional differences, the state of the technology, and the compelling need for a solution that minimizes overall economic impact. As your committee reopens discussion on a climate bill, the Chamber urges you to take steps to bridge the political and geographical divide that prevented the enactment of comprehensive climate legislation in 2003, 2005, and 2008, and appears to have stalled the current effort.
It is time to consider a different approach.
The challenge of drafting comprehensive climate legislation is not “whether” to do something, but “how.” There are many good ideas out there that can serve as a solid, workable, commonsense and realistic foundation on which to craft a bill. The Chamber commends Senators Kerry and Graham for their recent New York Times editorial on the need for comprehensive climate legislation. The Chamber welcomes the call for a new conversation on how to address the issue, and believes their editorial can serve as a solid, workable, commonsense foundation on which to craft a bill. Many other important details are needed, but the Chamber agrees that the objectives outlined in that editorial, coupled with their clear recognition that “this process requires honest give-and-take and genuine bipartisanship,” can move this important policy objective forward in a bipartisan manner that garners strong business community support.
Senators Kerry and Graham have set forth a positive, practical and realistic framework for legislation, one that echoes the core principles that the Chamber embeds in all of its communications on climate policy. The Chamber agrees with a great deal of the principles set forth by Senators Kerry and Graham, in particular that legislation should: minimize the impact on major emitters; reduce price volatility for consumers; protect global competitiveness; invest in renewable energy sources; take advantage of nuclear power; streamline the permit system; make us the “Saudi Arabia of clean coal” by fostering carbon capture and sequestration technology; commit to increased environmentally responsible onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration; contain consumer and intellectual property protections; protect against agency regulation under existing laws not written for greenhouse gases; strengthen the hand of our international negotiators; and increase our own energy security and energy efficiency.
Good ideas are not limited to Senators Kerry and Graham. Proposals by Senators Alexander, Barrasso, Baucus, Bingaman, Cantwell, Dorgan, Lieberman, Murkowski, Vitter and Voinovich (to name a few) all contain elements that can be used in conjunction with the Kerry-Graham proposal and the positive aspects of S. 1733, the “Clean Energy Jobs and Power Act,” to craft a realistic, cost-effective and environmentally meaningful climate change bill.
Shaping a bill the Chamber, the broader business community, and a bipartisan majority in the House and Senate approve of will take significant effort. The Chamber will continue to oppose bad policies that resemble the failed climate proposals of the past, such as bills that jeopardize American jobs, create trade inequalities, leave open the Clean Air Act, open the door to CO2-based mass tort litigation, and further hamper the permitting process for clean energy. But the Chamber believes Senators Kerry, Graham, and the other named Senators have taken a constructive and positive stand on global climate change and energy security, rising above partisan politics and opening a real discussion on how to address this important issue. The Chamber has developed many other recommendations that would complement these approaches to strengthen our nation’s energy security, power our economy, and create jobs, and protect the environment, and we welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these important issues.
Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten
Cc: The Members of the United States Senate
In response, CEI urged Chamber members to answer the national organization “by calling on small businesses to drop their Chamber membership and join CEI in fighting this catastrophic legislation.”
Let’s see. People like to think of the Chamber of Commerce (at least on a national level) as a conservative organization. But I have news for them – you’re not going to get a proposal that solely addresses your concerns out of this Congress. Instead, you’re going to get the taxes and onerous restrictions the Democrats want as they ignore your concerns – after all, you’re a “conservative” organization (excepting your pro-amnesty stance on illegal immigration.)
Indeed, the challenge IS “whether” to do something. Since we can’t legislate the activity of the sun, believing that any lawmaking body can regulate climate change is pure folly. The only climate which can be changed is America’s business climate, which would be hit with the force of a hurricane if any climate change legislation passes.
Hopefully local Chambers will protest the national Chamber’s insensitivity to their local needs because any legislation passed by this Congress is likely to do irreparable harm to America’s business community.
Not hearing the other side
An organized campaign to stop Waxman-Markey? Say it isn’t so!
Well, in order to stop what they termed “Fraudulent Letters Opposing Clean Energy Legislation” the Congressional Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing this morning, It was to investigate what they considered fraudulent letters sent by a group representing the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
Naturally, my first question would be: who selected these guys anyway? It’s a 15-member committee (9 Democrats and 6 Republicans) chaired by Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts. (Yes, he’s the Markey in Waxman-Markey so it’s pretty obvious where he stands.)
One person who was supposed to testify but dropped at the last moment was Chris Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, whose testimony was supposed to highlight the “Astroturfing” on the pro-warming side. But the Democrats on the committee had no interest in hearing about that and, according to Horner, Republicans meekly conceded. As Chris put it, “in Washington, times such as these are called ‘weekdays.’”
Apparently the global warming alarmists have taken a page from the pro-Obamacare folk by labeling opponents “Astroturf.” (Pity, I preferred the epithet “skeptic” for the heretics who do not believe mankind can warm the planet better than the sun can.)
More distressing is the fact that those who wish to air the dirty laundry of a particular interest group expressing their opposition to climate change legislation that’s going to hurt their bottom line doesn’t want to hear about the same practices achieved by their side. It’s something on the order of holding their fingers in their collective ears and yelling, “lalalalalalala I don’t hear you!”
Perhaps they aren’t listening to the millions of Americans who are sitting at home during a chilly fall wondering just when global warming is going to kick in and save them money on the natural gas, electricity, or heating oil required to heat their homes this winter. Some of them went to the TEA Party right at their doorstep and most of them called out in one voice: say NO to cap-and-tax!
How about this solution to curtail global warming: quit holding meaningless hearings about a problem which doesn’t exist and an answer that will do nothing about the phantom problem but send us all to the poorhouse? China and India are thumbing their nose at the Copenhagen conference, so if they don’t want to play ball we shouldn’t either.
Please note that the opinions expressed on monoblogue are not necessarily those of the Wicomico County Republican Party Central Committee, of which I'm a member. (But they probably should be.)
News from the loony left:
