Oct 18 2009
Great Greeley! A Lab for Cap and Trade
The Associated Press this weekend had a fascinating story on one town’s role as a microcosm for the fight over traditional and alternative energy sources, whether or not to impose a cap and trade system, and what all those factors will do to middle America.
We can’t recommend the story highly enough, but it is worth pointing out one farmer’s effort to get straight answers from politicians pushing cap and trade:
David Eckhardt, a fourth-generation Weld County farmer, is struggling with the math. Despite meeting with Bennet and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Eckhardt remains skeptical of an Agriculture Department’s analysis of the House climate bill that says farmers stand to make more money from trapping carbon in their soil and crops than they will pay out in higher energy prices.
“I know my fuel will go up, I know my chemicals will go up. And the question that was asked at the meeting we had with them was how much? And their answer was not as much as you think it will,” said Eckhardt. “That’s not an answer.”
No, it’s not an answer and he probably wouldn’t like the results of an honest one.
We should be wary when policy makers can not answer our questions. The truth is that they don’t even know how much exactly. Even if they did, they wouldn’t want to tell us because the costs are going to be quite significant. Enough that would ensure no support for the bill whatsoever. Write your Congressmen and voice opposition to cap and trade at http://tiny.cc/pxIgi.