What are people saying about the "American Power Act" whose sponsors include Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT)

T. Boone Pickens
“Senators Kerry and Lieberman are to be commended for a plan that recognizes the economic and national security threat of our ever-increasing dependence on foreign oil, particularly OPEC oil. Achieving energy security is not easy and I applaud their focus on a broad energy package that includes replacing foreign oil/diesel/gasoline with cleaner, abundant domestic natural gas in America’s heavy duty vehicle fleets. I look forward to working with them in the coming weeks to focus attention on that aspect of their legislation. More than 1.6 million Americans have signed on to my campaign to solve the foreign oil crisis, and I’m going to see to it that this objective is achieved as the legislative process evolves. Using natural gas as a transportation fuel is a non-partisan issue. The time to act is now.”

Interpretation: So long as this thing has the natural gas act in it I’m happy

America’s National Gas Alliance (www.ANGA.us)
“We appreciate the inclusion of language aimed at helping move toward the greater use of natural gas in merchant power generation and vehicles. While a useful starting point, we believe much more could be done right now to significantly reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants by providing clean energy transition incentives to electric utilities as well.

Interpretation: We are pissed. All our cozying up to Washington DC and bazillions spent on ads and we’re still not getting R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Daphne Wysham, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies on the Huffington Post
“Do we really need more than the 2 billion tons of carbon offsets per year already provided under the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill? The U.S. Government Accountability Office studied carbon offsets and found them impossible to verify. This quantity of carbon offsets means the U.S. could make no verifiable emissions reductions until at least 2030, making the 17 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels promised by 2020 meaningless in the short-term-- when it's needed most.”

Interpretation: I won’t be happy until we bring this nation to its knees economically.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
"While I have not seen the changes made by Senators Kerry and Lieberman to the final product, I look forward to reviewing their proposal in regards to offshore drilling, the transportation sector, and other issues.

Interpretation: Boy am I glad I got off this sinking ship when I did, I got to get reelected. Never too early to plan ahead

President Barack Obama
“I applaud Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman for their tireless work in drafting this important legislation. This legislation will put America on the path to a clean energy economy that will create American jobs building the solar panels, wind blades and the car batteries of the future. It will strengthen our national security by beginning to break our dependence on foreign oil. And it will protect our environment for our children and grandchildren.”

Interpretation: You didn’t think I’d actually breathe the words “natural gas” did you?

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Comment by Gene Water Recycler aka.PPC on May 20, 2010 at 5:54pm
Senator John Kerry, one of the chief advocates for the government take-over of the energy sector recently said of his energy tax bill, "There is no gas tax, never was a gas tax, will not be a gas tax, I don't know where that came from, but it is just wrong. Period."

If that wasn't clear enough, he went on to say, "There is no gas tax, we didn't contemplate a gas tax, there will not be a gas tax, the gas tax is 18.4 cents today and it will be that when this bill is passed."

If only those statements corresponded to reality.

A new study by Point Carbon shows that the Global Warming Bill authored by John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) amounts to a new gasoline tax on American motorists. As The Hill newspaper reports:

Oil refiners would not participate in the trading system but would purchase allowances based on historic sales figures set aside each quarter. The companies would pass those costs onto consumers, resulting in the higher gas costs.
Even Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the bill's original sponsors, says that the fees "will be passed on" to consumers in the form of higher prices at the pump.

If Senator Kerry doesn't want to call the higher costs passed on to consumers because of his bill a gas tax, what would the Senator suggest we call these higher costs that arise as a direct result of his legislation?

The fact is that Senator Kerry's bill would introduce an entirely new tax system to America called "cap and trade", which in turn influences how large the gas tax would be from year to year.

The cap and trade tax system would tax energy, and the cap and trade tax system would be every bit as comprehensive and complex and subject to endless tax increases by future Congresses as our current income tax system has shown itself to be.

Cap and trade is not a one-time tax. It is a new system of taxation and will allow the Congress to expand endlessly into taxing every aspect of America's energy economy.

The Point Carbon study estimated this new energy tax will amount to $350 billion by 2020. But if a new cap and trade energy tax system passes this year, there is nothing to prevent a future Congress from increasing it next year, just as Congress is currently discussing increasing a whole array of new taxes.

The liberals in Congress continue to deny that they are trying to impose new taxes on energy, including taxes on gas, diesel, and other transportation fuels.

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