U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRATS CONCERNED WARMING BILL MAY HARM JOBS AND ECONOMY
Environment & Energy Daily, 16 May 2007
http://www.eenews.net/eed/
Ben Geman, E&E Daily senior reporter
Nearly 20 House Democrats from largely oil-and-gas producing states
penned a letter to their leadership yesterday in an attempt to make
sure climate change legislation does not lower energy supplies or
increase prices.
Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), who coordinated the effort, told E&E Daily
the lawmakers "want a seat at the table" when climate policy is
crafted.
Green and 18 other Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) noting oil
and gas will continue to provide a large share of the nation's energy
supply. The letter cautions against an "unrealistic or inequitable"
approach to oil and natural gas.
"If our climate change policy leads to gasoline or natural gas supply
disruptions and price spikes, consumers and voters will question that
policy," wrote the House members from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana,
Colorado, Utah, Arkansas, Georgia and Hawaii.
The letter says legislation capping greenhouse gases must consider an
increase in short-term natural gas demand. Natural gas emits fewer
greenhouse gases per unit of energy burned than coal, it points out,
stressing the role of oil and gas in transportation fuels, heating and
cooling, manufacturing and other needs.
The letter links high natural gas prices in recent years to job losses
in the manufacturing sector. "I want to make sure that whatever we do,
we address global warming and still realize we need to run our
vehicles and cool and heat our homes," Green said in the interview.
Pelosi has made tackling global warming a high-profile issue in the
House. She plans to bring legislation to the floor this summer that
addresses alternative energy, efficiency and climate change, though it
will not include a mandatory greenhouse gas control program.
Required controls are on a slower track. The Energy and Commerce
Committee plans to complete legislation on economy-wide GHG controls
this fall.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
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