Published: July 07, 2009 05:30 pm      

Will cap-and-trade fix energy problems?

Does anyone remember the medicine show, the traveling horse and wagon teams that peddled miracle medications and curative elixirs between entertainment acts? Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher is using his best political talents to convince folks in the coalfields that the elixir he and Congress propose dosing out tastes good and will provide miraculous cures.

Apparently he believes that the government can conjure up a scheme to coerce private industry to fix the energy problems. It is something akin to one of those magic potions that will cure any disease, smooth wrinkles, remove stains, prolong life or cure any number of common ailments. Mind you there “is not a single penny of taxes in this bill,” but it is only going to cost the average American 22 to 34 cents per day. For a family of four, that amounts to a little over $400 a year and only about $30 billion annually for American consumers. Somehow the government always knows how to lowball an estimate. Virginia’s U.S. Congressmen were split — five in favor and six against the bill. The bill is only 1,200 pages long. If it had been a little shorter some congressmen might have read it.

Boucher probably did work hard to craft the American Clean Energy and Security Act, HR 2454, in such a way that people on modest incomes wouldn’t suffer, the coal industry would survive and ultimately flourish and to create a bill that doesn’t raise taxes. But that isn’t how things usually work out. Remember Ronald Reagan’s 10 scariest words in the English language: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”

According to information provided by Friends of Coal, “the cap-and-trade bill threatens to eliminate 67,000 high wage jobs in mining, more than double our electricity bills, take between $1,300 and $800 out of our pockets every year while forcing American jobs to foreign countries.” Boucher stated that American Electric Power Company was for the bill. We haven’t heard much of anything from AEP recently other than they want to raise rates.

“You can’t make a dollar without taking it from someone,” Will Rogers said.

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The outside thermometer at my house read 66 degrees on the Fourth of July. It is possible that people will eventually consume all of the world’s natural resources, but the jury is still out on global warming and anthropogenic climate change theories on both the causes and the remedies. Some clamor hoax, others claim a pending catastrophe.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “The reality is that cost estimates for climate legislation are as unreliable as the models predicting climate change. What comes out of the computer is a function of what politicians type in. Britain’s Taxpayer Alliance estimates the average family there is paying nearly $1,300 a year in green taxes for carbon-cutting programs in effect only a few years. Is it about our environment or is it all about money?

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Dave Letterman apparently did Sarah Palin in. Palin took to the air to chastise Letterman for his cheap and tasteless shots. Then she resigned. Palin has her foes and her admirers. “Both as a Democrat and just as a person who enjoys being entertained, I can’t get enough of her,” James Carville said. “I taught a class on the 2008 election at Tulane, and I had to get the students to stop me from talking about her because it was just too compelling. She doesn’t always just sit on the edge of the cliff, she actually falls off it sometimes.”

Carville also said he doesn’t think Palin is an act. “I think the depths of her beliefs are not in doubt, it’s how curious and competent she is where the real doubt is,” he said. “And it’s not just policy. If it’s ‘no drama Obama,’ drama just follows her around.” What Carville did say (and it is worth noting) was that Republicans should have considered Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. In 2006, Snowe was named one of America’s Top 10 Senators by Time magazine.

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Threatening the press was not a good idea. Sarah Palin needs to consider a little advice Will Rogers dispensed — “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” There is a little amendment to the Constitution that could be a stumbling block. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...” “No public official in their right mind should ever even think of picking a fight with the press, unless, they’re asking for their careers to be over,” Dolores M. Bernal said. If there is something wrong the press will print it, and more than likely some investigative reporters are busy up north in Alaska turning every stone. They are not going to stop digging and it isn’t gold that they are panning.

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There you have it, a few comments on items of interest to the area. I hope you have a deep blue sky today. “There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe ... the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here” — Mark Twain

Wilson Butt, a resident of Bluefield, is a retired Department of Highways official.