Posted by: Sen. Richard Burr
Friday night, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R.2454) narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 219-212. The bill, which will be taken up by the Senate next, establishes a new “cap and trade” system to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. While the figures vary, it is clear this massive new federal bureaucracy would lead to higher energy costs for North Carolina families and businesses with little measurable benefit for the environment.
The new costs on business under the bill would also hurt our nation's manufacturing sector, threatening jobs and economic growth. This would be devastating to families, especially now when our economy is already experiencing a severe recession.
As we have seen in Europe, a unilateral approach to greenhouse gas emissions – which does not include countries like China and India -- would not only jeopardize American competitiveness and send more of our jobs overseas, but it would also relocate greenhouse gas emissions to other countries. So rather than reducing global emissions, we would only be punishing ourselves under this cap and trade bill while China and India continue to pollute with reckless abandon.
