Blog Post from American Trucking Associations
America Simply Cannot Afford a Cap-and-Trade Policy
August 24, 2009
Written by: Brandon Borgna
Instituting a cap-and-trade program would require
Congress to appropriate billions of dollars for the expansion of federal
agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission in order to handle their expanded responsibilities,
according to The
Washington Times.
A cap-and-trade scheme would create the nation's
largest commodity market almost overnight, requiring the CFTC and other federal
agencies to closely monitor the buying and selling of carbon "allowances," which
give companies the right to emit carbon dioxide. The Congressional Budget Office
reports that the government's expansion would cost $8 billion over a 10-year
period. For the bill to operate effectively, nearly 1,500 new regulations and
mandates would have to be approved for at least 21 federal agencies. The
rule-making process alone would take years.
"The problem is that there's a mismatch between the
government's capacity and its mission," said Darrell M. West, vice president and
director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
As estimates about the true cost of cap-and-trade
continue to rise, Senate Democrats have begun jumping ship on the proposed
legislation, news reports say. Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Ben Nelson
(D-Neb.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) have urged the Senate
to delay legislation that puts caps on greenhouse gas emissions and instead,
pass a narrow bill that sets requirements on the use of renewable
energy.
It is becoming obvious that the White House's ambitious
agenda is simply too costly to put in place, said the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. "At a
time when our nation's leaders are desperately trying to find a way out of this
economic quagmire, why would Congress consider a bill that would not only impose
a national energy tax on every household and small business in the country, but
also further restrict our domestic energy production," the
Review-Journal said.
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