Published: June 29, 2009 08:58 pm      

Where do senators stand on climate bill?

BECKLEY — Now that the controversial cap-and-trade proposal has shifted to the Senate, where do West Virginia’s two senators stand on the issue coal interests feel could harm their industry and drive utility bills skyward?

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who grew up in a Raleigh County coal camp, told The Register-Herald Monday that he cannot support the House-passed measure as it is written.

But Sen. Jay Rockefeller, another Democrat, apparently hasn’t made up his mind about the legislation that demands industry curtail greenhouse emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent by the middle of the century.

“I remain bullish about the future of coal and am so very proud of the miners who labor and toil in the coalfields of West Virginia,” he said.

Byrd said he is convinced that clean coal could become a “green” energy.

“Those of us who understand coal’s great potential in our quest for energy independence must continue to work diligently in shaping a climate bill that will ensure access to affordable energy for West Virginians,” the senator said.

Critics are warning that the effect of the cap-and-trade legislation — which imposes a limit, or cap, on the amount of pollutants but allows industries to trade with those who don’t reach such levels — could devastate the economy.

As the nation is required to turn less from fossil fuels and to alternate and renewable energy sources, opponents maintain that it will mean Americans will be forced to pay more to heat, cool and light their homes.

Another push is to produce smaller, more fuel efficient, hybrid cars.

In a statement, the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the nation’s older civil rights groups, blasted the Waxman-Markey bill as “an immoral assault on poor Americans,” saying its purpose is to hike energy costs to impose a lower standard of living.

“In my 40-plus years as the chairman of CORE, I have seen few federal bills that would do more harm to America’s working class and low-income citizens and families than the Waxman-Markey climate tax bill,” Roy Innis said in a statement to members of Congress.

Innis said one aim of the bill is “the morally repugnant concept” that narrowing domestic energy sources is good since it forces consumers to conserve.

“That elitist view assumes that poor, working class families have the ability to bear that ‘social cost,’” he said.

“The plain truth is this: The poor and working families we represent cannot bear that luxury. Americans don’t want ‘energy welfare’ payments from the government to help ease the sting of these government-driven cost increases. They want continued affordable and reliable energy, which this bill will constrict.”

An aide to Rockefeller said the senator has been keeping close tabs on the bill as it moved through the House and has “serious concerns” about it.

President Barrack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have been the strongest proponents, saying the bill will lead to the creation of millions of “green” jobs in the environmental community.

The House passed it last Friday night night on a 219-212 tally, with all three members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation casting votes against it.

“The Senate process is in the beginning stages, and Sen. Rockefeller will continue working with his colleagues to make sure West Virginia’s interests are represented,” the aide said.

A new group known as Southern West Virginians for Coal is attempting to rally opposition to the bill by urging state residents to contact Byrd and Rockefeller before the Senate showdown, which likely won’t come until after the Fourth of July break by Congress.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com