Politics

MIKE CONAWAY Op-Ed: ‘Cap-and-tax’ legislation would be bad for America

MIKE CONAWAY: ‘Cap-and-tax’ legislation would be bad for America
by Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas
San Angelo Standard-Times
July 17, 2009

There is an old western movie titled ?Bad Day at Black Rock? about a dying town that is hostile, corrupt and fraudulent. The movie is a tense depiction of a one-armed outsider who arrives in a forgotten desert town filled with criminals.

Over a 24-hour period, the protagonist finds he is unwelcome and facing several threatening characters, hostility, hypocrisy, guilt and prejudice. The film builds suspense by withholding information about the visitor?s mysterious mission, and by creating a mystery regarding the hostile town?s secret.

The day that the cap-and-trade bill ? which more appropriately should be called cap-and-tax ? is signed by President Obama will be a ?Bad Day at Black Rock? for our country.

Energy has again taken center stage in Washington as legislation to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide is moving through Congress. On June 26, the House of Representatives passed, by 219-213, the Democratic leadership?s vision for America?s energy future, the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

I opposed this legislation because I believe it will be disastrous for the economy and ineffective in improving the environment.

I believe that our national energy policy should be about providing abundant energy. Our economic recovery and future growth are firmly rooted in the access that business and industry has to reliable and affordable power.

We all want to breathe clean air and drink clean water. God put us on this Earth as stewards of the resources we are given, and it is our duty to use them responsibly. Climates change ? it is a historical fact. It would be arrogant to think that man can turn the global thermostat up or down.

Many scientists continue to question the validity of the science behind man-made climate change and disagree that there is a looming ecological catastrophe from the emission of carbon dioxide. Most recently, 37 scientists challenged the conventional wisdom on man-made climate change and reflected the crumbling nature of the scientific consensus in an exhaustive report titled ?Climate Change Reconsidered.?

Abundant energy need not come at the expense of the environment. Renewable resources hold great promise to reduce the pollution generated by energy production and to diversify our energy supply, but they are still years away from being a significant portion of our energy portfolio.

Just as we have done in Texas, our nation should continue to invest in renewable resources to make them more competitive, available and affordable.

My Republican colleagues and I introduced legislation that would spur the advancement of renewable power sources. This plan would allow increased domestic production of traditional energy resources and then use the resulting royalties to encourage the infrastructure and research and development investments needed to make the emerging renewable energy technologies competitive.

Additionally, we have proposed to streamline and accelerate the permitting and regulatory process for new nuclear power plants. This will significantly reduce the time and costs spent waiting on government regulators to approve projects, a problem that has stifled the construction of nuclear plants for decades.

The Democrats? energy plan is to reduce carbon emissions through a cap-and-tax scheme, which is a national tax on energy from petroleum, natural gas and coal. The bill is the most far-reaching energy legislation introduced since I have been in Congress and it will fundamentally upend the energy markets in our country. Democrats admit that their plan will cause energy costs to skyrocket and will greatly expand the federal government?s influence on our economy.

The biggest concern with the legislation, however, is the flight of energy-intensive manufacturing jobs to unregulated economies in an effort to avoid the costs of compliance. This not only outsources American jobs, but the emissions that the legislation is seeking to avoid get produced anyway.

As the world?s third-largest producer of crude oil, largest producer of natural gas and second-largest producer of coal, the domestic production of traditional energy sources will continue to play an important role in our energy supply. Developing carbon capture and storage, clean coal, biofuels and other clean fossil fuel technologies will help us utilize these critical fuel stocks and our fossil fuel-based infrastructure in a more environmentally responsible manner, while providing much needed increases in production capacity.

Mike Conaway, R-Midland, represents Texas? 11th Congressional District, which includes most of the Concho Valley.

Full post as published by Mike Conaway's Blog on July 22, 2009 (boomark / email).