Warner-Lieberman Bill May Die - That's a Good Thing

I certainly hope this news is true. The Warner-Lieberman cap and trade bill for carbon is an economy killer that will raise energy prices and have no impact whatsoever on the climate. It will benefit a very few companies that have become very adept at rent-seeking.

"Businesses supporting Lieberman-Warner stand to profit from clean-energy or energy-efficiency iniatitives. GE, for instance, sells wind turbines, compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and energy-efficient locomotives and aircraft engines. Just this week, GE and the oil-field services firm Schlumberger announced plans to work together on clean-coal technology.

Utility companies Exelon, FPL Group, NRG Energy and PG&E Corp., which signed a letter supporting the bill, are developing nuclear energy, wind or solar power, or so-called clean-coal plants. They would gain as the costs of burning coal in conventional plans goes up. About 50% of electricity in the United States comes from burning coal."

They are merely trying to hobble their competitors at our expense. (Full disclosure: I am particularly upset with GE because I own stock in that company. I am what I call a refuGE, I used to work there). The media have completely bought into the faulty premise that carbon dioxide causes global warming, as evidenced by this passage from the article: " ...Companies would need permits to emit pollutants that cause global warming."

No one has even established correllation, let alone causation and global average temperature peaked a decade ago. In fact, this past Winter saw global cooling that wiped out all of the temperature gains of the last century. The most telling part of the article is this:

""I believe in cap and trade. I believe we ought to put a price on carbon," [Duke Energy CEO] Rogers says. But senators who want to auction permits, and then use the money for a variety of projects - ranging from deficit reduction to water projects to job training - threaten to turn the climate-change bill into the "ultimate in earmarking.""

Once again, this legislation is not about what's good for the Earth, or for the US economy. It's another opportunity for the Congress to pass a huge tax increase by the back door and acquire even more power by redistribution of the spoils to their favored constituencies (who are not likely to be the voters).

Update: More on correlation of CO2 and temperature here.