Cap And Trade

Floor Speech

Cap And Trade

Mrs. CAPITO. Thank you.

I rise today to talk about the President's program for cap-and-trade. I'd like to take just a few minutes to explain it a little bit and talk to people about what this is really going to mean to them.

I represent the State of West Virginia. But here in the United States, coal is our most abundant resource. We have recoverable reserves that are sufficient for at least 250 years. Coal currently fuels 50 percent of all the electricity generated in this country.

In my home State of West Virginia, 98 percent of our electricity comes from coal. Our State has abundant resources. We give, and we turn on the lights in America.

There's been a lot of discussion surrounding the future of coal in this global warming debate. The first thing we need to remember is that anything we do, whether or not it's climate change, is inextricably linked with energy policies that are going to cascade across the environmental, economic, and social issues of the day.

So cap-and-trade. It sounds nice. Cap emissions and then trade away. What does that really mean?

It means, basically, a tax increase on carbon dioxide emissions that will lead to a reduction in energy use. That sounds good. But it will also lead to an enormous erosion of America's family budget. This will tax every single American and tax those who are in most difficulty and who have most difficulty making ends meet.

The administration's budget calls for a 100 percent auction of allowances under a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sounds good, doesn't it?

The President's ``cap-and-tax'' proposal will impose mandates and further regulations on manufacturing and will dramatically increase the cost of energy and electricity. This proposal will create a great transfer of wealth between coal-dependent States like West Virginia and those that rely on alternative resources, with no change in the ultimate environmental outcome of the cap-and-trade policy and a huge estimated GDP loss.

I think there's one thing we know here in this time and right now is that a solid economy is the best way to innovate and create and solve problems that we need help with.

So you say, Where does the money come from? If you're going to trade and buy, where does the money come from? That money will come from the individual consumer because the manufacturers, the electricity producer, all the folks who are going to be trading allowances are going to have to find that money somewhere, and it's going to be tacked on as a form of an energy tax to every single American.

Under the Lieberman-Warner legislation of last year, the EPA estimated a rise in electricity costs between 44 and 79 percent. In West Virginia, the price of our electricity would go up between 103 and 135 percent. That is going to hurt folks on fixed incomes, our elderly, and it's going to hurt the poor the most, who cannot afford the huge chunk out of our budgets that energy takes right now.

The revenue returned to consumers from the President's budget, he says he's going to give money back to folks to help them meet this high cost. But that is not even close to covering the increase in household electricity costs.

When the President was a candidate, this is what he said, ``What I've said that if we would put a cap-and-trade system in place that is more--that is as aggressive if not more aggressive than anyone else's out there, so if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can, it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.''

Remember, the State of West Virginia, 98 percent of our electricity is generated by coal.

Manufacturing output will fall considerably if the President's plan goes through. The whole idea is to tax the consumer, to bring down emissions, and no consideration has been made as to what this is going to do to the rank-and-file everyday citizen.

What is the job loss? In West Virginia, under Lieberman-Warner--and I realize that's not the President's bill. The President's bill is even broader reaching than this one. The estimation of the job loss is between 7,000 and 10,000 jobs between now and the year 2020.

Addressing climate change concerns is a global challenge requiring global solutions. We need common sense. We need to slow down here because unilateral action by this Congress and by the United States will have no impact, or very little impact on global emissions but will also have a great impact on our economy and on our citizens.

We need to innovate and use technology. We could use the development of advanced clean coal technologies; most importantly, CCS, or carbon capture and storage technologies.

We need technology to push as hard and fast as we can. I urge caution. We need to slow down. For the sake of my constituents and those in States like mine, we should not forget this as our debate moves forward.

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