Published: July 04, 2009 07:37 pm      

Boucher defends climate bill support

GRAYSON COUNTY, Va. — U.S. Rep. Frederick C. “Rick” Boucher, D-Va., said he worked hard to craft the American Clean Energy and Security Act 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. However, Boucher believes a campaign of misinformation has clouded the facts of the bill and is seeking to set the record straight.

When he addressed his colleagues in the House of Representatives on June 26, he explained what the bill will do in as succinct terms as he could find, but the opponents of the bill — according to Boucher, inspired by data that has been skewed by right-wing think tanks — had already kicked up a storm of controversy to surround the bill before he and his fellow congressmen passed the legislation on a narrow 219-212 vote, that does not reflect the Democratic party’s majority in the House.

“I said it in my floor speech,” Boucher said during a telephone interview on Friday as he prepared to enjoy Independence Day weekend with his wife, Amy, family and friends in Grayson County. “The cost of the entire measure for typical Americans is less than the cost of a postage stamp a day — 22 to 34 cents per day. For lower income people, there is no cost, and for some, there may be rebates.

“Also, coal use and production will increase,” Boucher said. “Coal use will be greater than it is today. The shift to all-electric vehicles is on and there will be a move to retrain workers for work in those fields. Electric cars don’t run of foreign fuel. Ultimately, they run on coal because that’s where the electric energy in this country comes from.”

Boucher, 62, said he was “at the very core” of negotiating changes in the initial bill so that typical Americans like the people in Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District that he has served since 1983. Through the years, he has worked his way through the ranks of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and sits on the Energy & Environment subcommittee that worked on the Clean Energy Security Act.

“We worked very hard to establish a coalition in support of this bill,” Boucher said. “We gained the support of coal-fired electric utilities including American Electric Power.” He said that the bill will help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

“There’s not a single penny of taxes in this bill,” he said. He added that it was important to him that congress take action on the matter. “Congress needed to pass a greenhouse gas bill,” he said. “If the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was to create the new regulations, it would not have taken into consideration the economic impact of its regulations.

“In short, this measure keeps utility rates reasonable, expands coal use and the cost to typical Americans is about the same as a postage stamp per day,” Boucher said. “All claims that have fueled the public hysteria somewhat are just false. Some of these numbers come from right-wing think tanks. That’s their (the measure’s opponents’) source of these projections,” he said. He said the subcommittee used government data to take “a step forward” in addressing the nation’s energy future.

“Members of the Senate are asking us to brief them on how we worked to develop support and to create coalitions for this measure,” Boucher said. He said that he and other members of the House energy committee will meet with Senate members to explain how supporters of the measure gained vital support.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com