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The Sainted James Hansen

By Doug Bandow on 7.11.09 @ 4:22AM

Ain't happy with cap 'n trade.

For all its "green" aura, Waxman-Markey locks in fossil fuel business-as-usual and garlands it with a Ponzi-like "cap-and-trade" scheme. Here are a few of the bill's egregious flaws:

It guts the Clean Air Act, removing EPA's ability to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants.

It sets meager targets -- 2020 emissions are to be a paltry 13% less than this year's level -- and sabotages even these by permitting fictitious "offsets," by which other nations are paid to preserve forests - while logging and food production will simply move elsewhere to meet market demand.

Its cap-and-trade system, reports former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs Robert Shapiro, "has no provisions to prevent insider trading by utilities and energy companies or a financial meltdown from speculators trading frantically in the permits and their derivatives."

It fails to set predictable prices for carbon, without which, Shapiro notes, "businesses and households won't be able to calculate whether developing and using less carbon-intensive energy and technologies makes economic sense," thus ensuring that millions of carbon-critical decisions fall short.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln,how was the play?

Of course, Hansen is happy to have legislation that would destroy the economy. But at least he actually would like the result to be lower emissions. The Democrats seem to be committed to impoverishing America for the fun of it. As long as taxes go up and there's more money to hand out to the usual interest groups, why worry?

(H/t to Marc Morano.)

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

G. A. Kevis| 7.11.09 @ 8:12AM

Let this Cassandra take a long look at the Sun.

Perhaps then he'll see the light.

Rmoen| 7.11.09 @ 10:34AM

I'm a Democrat who thinks the House overplayed its hand. Daily I read editorials, comments and letters-to-the-editor from all over the nation. Support for cap and trade is evaporating. Whereas two weeks ago it was maybe 2-to-1 against cap and trade, opinion now seems to be 8-to-1 against. The Senate will be wise to heed the overwhelming lack of public support and stop this disastrous legislation from passing into law.

-- Robert Moen, www.energyplanUSA.com

JP| 7.11.09 @ 12:12PM

Funny how to activists on the Left always assume that someone else will pay for thier fantasies. CNN had a story this morning about the "Green Internet". Such absurdities abound in the fantasies of the Left. The internet, when it comes down to it, is pure energy. Nothing more than manipulations of high(postive) and low(negative) volts carried through both optical and copper wires. The amount of energy that it takes to power internet backbones, server farms, and data centers is phenominal. Even with things like hardware virtualization doesn't even come close to stopping the every growing demand for internet enabled services. Most Lefties have no idea what kind of carbon taxes would be levied upon both the consumers and providers of internet services. Waxman Markey would at least triple the monthly cost for internet usage.

Alan Brooks| 7.11.09 @ 7:43PM

life is-- to throw out more philosophy-- just a series of trade-offs supposedly benefiting future generations. Let us hope so.

but remember when ecology was FUN?

Jim O'Brien| 7.11.09 @ 8:50PM

Chief Socialist Obama, his Congressional Comrades, and the average voter know so little about this subject that if you ask any one of them this simple question: "Are greenhouse gases bad for the environment?" he would give a knee-jerk answer, YES.

WRONG!

This is really getting old - having to restate the facts over and over again. But maybe each time they are stated just a few more people will learn that man-made global warming is a hoax, and wake up to the idiocy of Cap & Trade.

As Ronald Reagan might say, "Here we go again": 1) greenhouse gases are not evil, they are essential to keeping the earth warm enough for humans; 2) a common "greenhouse gas" is Water Vapor; 3) CO2 is not pollution, it is essential for plants and humans; 4) CO2 is only a trace element in the atmosphere at about 380 parts per million; 5) humans account for only about 3 to 5% of CO2 emissions each year; 6) the earth has had cycles of cooling and warming about every 1,500 years due to variations in the sun’s activity and our orbit around the sun; 7) these cycles are beyond human control; 8) about 1,000 years ago Greenland had vineyards (etc, etc.); 9) the earth is cooling now, not warming, relative to prior decades; and 10) a major reduction of sun spots in recent years suggests the possibility of a coming mini ice age.

If more people knew how much damage Cap & Trade will do to our economy, they would be shouting their disapproval. For more on this read
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/05/02/obamas-assault-on-the-middle-c

Two very good books on the subject are: 1) Climate Confusion by Roy Spencer; and 2) Unstoppable Global Warming - Every 1,500 Years, by Dennis Avery and Fred Singer.