Sarah Palin is wrong about the Cap-and-Trade issue.
July 14th, 2009 by Claire Morgenstern | 22 Comments »
After reading Governor Sarah Palin’s op-ed in the Washington Post today, I am convinced that she is completely uninformed on the issue of cap and trade.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Lesley Bunnell and I work in the Providence, RI office of CLF. I have a more vested interest in Sarah Palin’s environmental blunders, as I am originally from Alaska. I regularly cringe at the thought that my beloved home state’s identity is synonymous with someone so unaware of basic environmental issues.
Soon-to-be former Governor Palin’s claims that President Obama’s cap and trade energy plan threatens the US economy. Apparently, Governor Palin believes that by limiting companies and Big Business’s carbon dioxide emissions, mass jobs will be lost, there will be more expensive energy costs for consumers, and it will drive the Big Business Energy Sector out of our country. Therefore, the US will have to out-source its energy needs to foreign suppliers. Since our country’s energy sources are so plentiful, regulating their emissions only depletes their efficacy. Of course, her only example of the US’s energy bounty is Alaska.
Huh. So, let’s examine this. As the mother of a small daughter, I spend a lot of time negotiating the ins and outs of the world with her; the good vs. bad, the necessary vs. unnecessary. I can’t even explain Gov. Palin’s logic to my 6 year old.
The very basics of cap and trade are as follows:
- Companies apply for emissions permits, from a governing body, wherein their pollutants are “capped” as a specific amount.
- If they pollute more than this cap, they must PAY for credits/allowances to do so.
- If they reduce their emissions, they can SELL their allowances for a profit.
Therefore, there is a marriage of market-based and environmental resolutions that start the process of controlling and reducing global warming pollution. Companies have incentives to do the right thing (stopping their polluting of the environment) and we, as consumers, benefit from the reduction of pollution in our society. We also benefit from the cost savings generated by the distributions of the profits and energy efficiency measures created by this system.
While Alaska has abundant natural energy resources, fully depleting them to provide for the US population is hardly a solution. That is the equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Moreover, we should be investing in renewable energy sources.
Sarah Palin is wrong. I can easily explain that to my daughter.
Popularity: 9% [?]
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Tags: Cap and Trade, Clean Energy & Climate Change, obama, Sarah Palin is wrong
September 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Are you kidding! have you seen Palin’s house compared to Obama’s. Obama lives on the south side of Chicago where Palin has a multimillion dollar mansion with her own plane! How can you say Sarah Palin knows the working class. Obama has worked his way up to being a self made figure compared to Sarah Palin whose only talent is winking. If you would actually read first hand material, you would see all of Obama’s imperfections there, but the fake news, I mean fox news doesn’t have the IQ to understand real literature.
And William, what has Palin done that you admire her for?!? The biggest thing that I truly don’t like about Palin is, and this is fact, when her daughter came out and said she was pregnant, Palin stated that they gave her the CHOICE to keep the baby or have an abortion! What a hypocrite. Alaska can’t have pro-choice but the Palin’s can. She’s an air head and Alaska is better off without her. I pray that Palin never achieves a public office again in this country, stay at the hockey arena.
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September 19th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Are you kidding! have you seen Palin’s house compared to Obama’s. Obama lives on the south side of Chicago where Palin has a multimillion dollar mansion with her own plane! How can you say Sarah Palin knows the working class. Obama has worked his way up to being a self made figure compared to Sarah Palin whose only talent is winking. If you would actually read first hand material, you would see all of Obama’s imperfections there, but the fake news, I mean Fox news doesn’t have the IQ to understand real literature.
And William, what has Palin done that you admire her for?!? The biggest thing that I truly don’t like about Palin is, and this is fact, when her daughter came out and said she was pregnant, Palin stated that they gave her the CHOICE to keep the baby or have an abortion! What a hypocrite. Alaska can’t have pro-choice but the Palin’s can. She’s an air head and Alaska is better off without her.
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September 20th, 2009 at 11:23 am
In the immortal words of Joe Wilson (Go Joe Go!!); YOU LIE!!! A simple google search tells the true story. Palin’s house is worth just over half a million ($552,000) where Obama’s mansion was bought for $1.65 million and is worth more (google that purchase). Furthermore Obama doesn’t live just on the south side of Chicago as if its some run down neighborhood but in exclusive Hyde Park (google that too if you like).
Since your comment/response started out with lies I wont bother responding to the rest of your drivel because its pretty apparent that YOUR the one who doesn’t read the ‘first hand material’ (whatever that’s supposed to mean).
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September 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Well I’m guessing since you like to google so much, you probably noticed that everthing I said was true so you must not have anything to say to my facts. I have no nice words to say about Joe Wilson so I won’t say anything at all. Please try to argue with me on Sarah Palin. PLEASE, you don’t have anything because she is a horrible politican. I’m sure shes a great hockey mom and I hope that’s where she stays, but she has no back bone. Her back bone was taken from the her by the Alaska oil companies. Come on, don’t rely on google to argue with me cause Wikipedia is not a reliable source if you didn’t know that. I have facts on my side and you have Glenn Beck.
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Matt Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I agree completely with Joe Wilson. First of all, google just doesn’t go to wikipedia and Sarah Palin is not a terrible politician. Obama is also a terrible politician and has spent more money than our country can pay back. Really? Our average debt per citizen is about 340,000 dollars and the average assets per citizen are around 240,000. Do the math. How will our nation get out of this hole? We are already being taxed to death and because of that, only the large businesses are left and the small businesses like my grandfather’s printing business are on the verge of dying because of Obama’s so called help for the American people. Look at what has happened to medicare in the past and now. It’s out of money because of politicians like Obama that have other things on their agenda.
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September 20th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Actually this last summer the world’s oceans warmed on average 4 degrees. In the arctic, they warmed as much as 9. If we stopped emitting CO2 today completely we would still be to late. This legislation though will create millions of new ‘green’ collar jobs. What’s wrong with creating jobs and getting off foreign oil. If oil goes to $150 a barrel (last summer) the United States would have to spend 1 trillion dollars a year. How can we have a good economy when were spending that much a year on oil!
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September 20th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Why should any country listen to us when we aren’t doing anything. The U.S. can’t point the finger at anyone until we do something. Oh yea, and the E.U. has cap and trade already in effect, there seems to be no complaints over there.
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Matt Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Oh yea there are no complaints in Europe. Are you kidding? Europe has gone into an economic slump from cap and trade.
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September 20th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Yea like made her approval rating plumit.
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September 20th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Apparently someone didn’t read this bill. Up front we will have to pay for it, you are right on that. If you read further into it, it states: Requires the President to distribute funds in the Consumer Climate Change Rebate Fund (established by this Act) to U.S. households. In simple terms, everyone will get a rebate back from this. Apparently Fake news can only read parts of the bill. Not to mention, once this gets going and the energy companies have caught up, energy prices will go back down.
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September 20th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Just to answer you question. The money goes back to the tax payer. It’s in the bill, read it. And about those companies that ‘we have driven out with cap and trade laws’ we don’t have any cap and trade laws. In fact they haven’t even written a proposal in the Senate yet.
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October 18th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
A man much smarter than I said
“Formerly we suffered from crime, today we suffer from laws.”
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October 20th, 2009 at 4:05 am
I’m a home owner and work in the utility field. In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.
H.R. 2454, the “Cap & Trade” bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded. However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost. Thus, you Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America will have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.
To get permission to sell a home, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements. Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a license (called a “label” in the Act) that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner If you don’t get a high enough rating, you can’t sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act.
The EPA administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″) and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he alone determines to be in the government’s best interest. Requirements are set low initially so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new standards every year. The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings. However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time.
Sect. 202 Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America. Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. You had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e., ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years. The Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements if you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants. You should expect requirements such as “can’t have an income of more than $50K per year”, “home selling price can’t be more than $125K”, or anything else to target the upper middle class (and that’s YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants. Most of us won’t get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets. More transfer of wealth, more “change you can believe in.”
Sect. 204 Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual residence will
identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for “at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.” This means that within 5 years 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department
of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year. Oh, the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label. And, just like your car license, you will probably be required to get a new label every so often – maybe every year. But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time. Remember what they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase. Expect the same from the home labeling program.
Sect. 304 Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards.
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October 22nd, 2009 at 10:42 am
Wow!,, Thanks Homeowner Joe for passing on the real info instead of the same old mindless B.S. rhetoric that seems to consume everyone on every issue. Where are all the supporting arguments now?. I have a very simplistic approach to anything that comes from the Government. Not being of any particular political party it’s easy to say that there are always some good and some bad ideas coming from Washington. The problem is they all end up needing to put their hands in my wallet to support them. I’m sick of it!!! I can’t afford it anymore. Soon I’m going to have to move to a different country to remain in the Human race and above ground. If it increases my taxes, if it violates my personal rights and or freedoms guaranteed to me by the Constitution, then it is garbage!!
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October 24th, 2009 at 7:49 am
america-where is your common sense? can’t you see the insanity that’s going on? CAP AND TRADE at this time in our economy? no, no, no
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October 24th, 2009 at 8:54 am
It is not the stimulus-bailouts-North American Corridor-Patriot Act..Ad Nadusisms
that are the problems…..these are distractions so we do not pay attention to what….
Obamas true intent and goal is……In December of this year….Obama plans on going to Copenhagen to sign the Climate Control Treaty…..if this is…. accomplished…it will be the end of America. This no joke….it is real…..once signed we will have unelected foreigners DICTATING what we can and can not do….NEVER in my life time [I am 68] have I ever seen a president bring to offices..so many self-proclaimed Socialists and Communists. Study the past weather issues and you will see that the Global Warming claimed, is false….As long as there is ice on the poles and Glaciers through the world…The “Ice Age”…
has not ended. But…if Obama drags us to One World Government in Copenhagen this December..The United States of America will cease to exist…….If you think this is fallacy…you will not think so when it becomes a reality……In the immortal words of that great composer.. Irvin Berlin…….”God Bless American….Land That I love….Stand Beside Her and Guide[defend] Her”……..
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November 5th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Ron is absolutely correct. As a retired professor of Environmental Science, one of the things that amazes me is how Americans (as well as other countries) have grasped hold of the idea that global warming is something we need to resolve. First of all, there is no definitive proof that global warming is even occurring. In fact, many scientists believe we are in a period of global cooling. And even if we are in a period of global warming, who’s to say that we (and carbon dioxide emissions) are at fault. The heating and cooling of the earth is a natural phenomenon that has been going on for millions of years… long before man and carbon dioxide emissions were on this planet. Furthermore, carbon dioxide has been virtually relegated to a position of “poison,” a compound we need to eradicate. CO2, in fact, is the life source of this planet. Along with water and sunlight, CO2 is required for photosynthesis, thereby beginning the food chain upon which we are completely dependent.
Then there is the money. If a company is required to pay a fee to the government, where do they get the money? They raise their prices (utility rates) to consumers. No government tax has ever been paid a company. It is always paid by the consumer. You may say “that’s a small price for me to pay to ensure the health of this planet.” However, since Cap & Trade is designed to reduce CO2 emissions and there has been no direct evidence that CO2 is creating global warming, that “small” price every one of us will pay is for nothing other than a larger government.
Let’s stick with the money. One of the other things we see going on is in the areas of grants and financial support. Since global warming is being pushed by our government, researchers who are trying to dispel the global warming hoax cannot get funding. If you want to make money, you need to be on the side of global warming.
Finally, we have many real environmental problems that are being neglected because they are not the “in” thing. We need to shift our focus from global warming to the proven issues that we may actually be able to do something about.
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November 7th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Me thinks Karl Rove knows a little more about Cap and Trade than Ms. Bunnell.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/220523
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November 15th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Where are the “independent” facts now? The part that also bothers me is that the bill is full of could; should, and the discretion of words, etc. These are subjective and allow the controlling government authority to tax or credit based on political preference or agenda, not necessarily what is best for the country.
Doing the right thing for the country and rememboring those things which made us strong, seems to have been lost to ‘distribution of wealth’ and feel good decisions
I feel frustrated with our current lack of understanding of history, and how it repeats inself. Thx for reading.
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November 15th, 2009 at 11:52 am
If you have not figured it out my now..You never will…..The President [I use that term loosely] lied under oath…..He has brought with him known and self-proclaimed Socialists, Communists, Marxists and a slew of other America haters into office with him….Most of what he is trying to do to America can be rightly
construed to be IMPEACHABLE acts….Palosi [spelling?] is an evil person who
DOES NOT favor the power of the people and the Constitution….She has poo-pawed the Constitution on many occasions. Obama is a ONE WORLDER and intends dragging US to it….If you like the idea of someone from a different country telling what you can and can not do…go for it and learn the hard way….Cap and Trade is a punishment for imagined Carbon Footprints charged against ALL Americans…..I will never submit to having my hard earned money being considered rightful payment to some “Third World Country” that has suffered under dictatorships for hundreds of years……
There IS NO GLOBAL WARMING. Al Gore was worth about two hundred thousand dollars……Using Global Warming to line his pockets…he is worth much, much more….In fact, it has been shown that Gore could be the first person to be worth a billion dollars, just from earnings off the Global Warming myth…..Some of the so called Scientists yakking up GW are the same ones that warned Congress in 1975, that were in grave danger from Global Cooling……That an ice cap was going to get so large it would break off and cause the “GREATEST TSUNAMI EVENT IN WORLD HISTORY.” Give me a break….The Progressives have spent almost a hundred years, with the help of a few US Presidents, trying to force US to go Socialist…..
That crap don’t work…..never has…never will…but millions will suffer, as they always have and continue to do, under Socialist dictatorships……There is “NO FREE LUNCH.” If you don’t, or are not willing, to fight for your life and freedom, then you deserve the consequences……..Cap and Trade….National Health….etc.
They are all the same…..A fast track to SLAVERY. Wake up America….because, if you don’t….you worst nightmare is but a vote away.
PROTECT OUR TROOPS……GIVE THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO DO THE JOB…OR BRING THEM HOME…..DO NOT KILL THEM FOR LACK OF GOVERNMENTAL COMMITMENT.
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December 6th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Sarah Palin is a woman with a very strong character and personality that is why i like her.
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December 27th, 2009 at 8:21 am
There are critics of Sarah Palin but in my opinion she is also a very good politician and she also did some good projects in Alaska.
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