Venango County Tea Party Patriots

A non-partisan, non-profit, non-member, association dedicated to educating the public and promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market economics, and all other lawful activities.

cap and trade

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“Cap and Trade Just One Way to Skin the Cat”

Ever since the Senate rejected President Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme in 2009, his administration has been hard at work to find other ways to implement a radical, environmentalist agenda.

Obama made these intentions clear at a press conference in 2010 when he explained, “Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat. … It was a means, not an end, and I am going to be looking for other means to address this problem.” And this is a promise he’s doing his best to keep.

With the help of the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments, this administration has relied on backdoor, behind-the-scenes tactics to impose stringent mandates in order to regulate what it has been unable to legislate. This tactic empowers unelected bureaucrats in Washington to implement rules that have far-reaching, negative impacts on our nation’s economy and the way we live our lives.

The Obama Administration’s announcement of new fuel-efficiency standards is a good example of its determination to regulate through administrative fiat.

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Cap and Trade is Now “Carbon Tax”

Folk wisdom tells us, “Where there’s smoke, there’s carbon emissions.” And where there are carbon emissions, there are internationalists hell-bent on hobbling the American economy in the name of Global Warming. Several recent signs:

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Carbon Tax Would Harm US Competitiveness

In America’s struggling economy, fossil fuel production stands out as a bright spot. Currently, 9,000,000 Americans work in the oil and natural gas industry, and another 550,000 Americans work in coal mining. Wages for these jobs are well above average, and production of fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, is booming in places like North Dakota.

The economic gains being made now have the potential to be long-lasting; the United States has the largest reserves of fossil fuels—oil, coal, and natural gas—in the world. (See Table 1.) These gains, however, are threatened by unfriendly energy policy from Washington. President Barack Obama and his allies in Congress continue to block fuel production on federal lands and offshore, have stopped a pipeline project that would increase North American–sourced petroleum products, are severely limiting coal production, and continue to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2).

The left has argued for decades that using fossil fuels is bad for the country. Initially, their concerns involved direct public health concerns such as oil spills, mercury, and other toxic pollutants. Their attack on fossil fuels has increased in recent years because fossil fuels are by far the biggest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), thought by some to lead to global warming. To limit GHG emissions, President Obama pushed a cap-and-trade energy bill in the 111th Congress that passed the House but was halted in the Senate. The President is now moving full speed ahead with regulation of GHGs by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act.

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