Thursday, July 02, 2009

How Cap And Trade Hits Texas

There is an interesting and informative series of articles on the website of Michael Williams, Texas Railroad Commissioner about the consequences of the recently passed cap and trade legislation in the House of Representatives for the state of Texas.

Michael Williams is running for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as she runs for governor. He is sharp, ambitious, articulate and from all indications, a good guy. I fully support his run for the U.S. Senate.

Williams points out that the National Black Chamber of Commerce, The Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation state that cap and trade will reduce national GDP, eliminate jobs and cost families a lot of money.

Susan Combs, Texas Comptroller, estimates "the typical Texas family (3.4 members) could expect to spend up to an additional $1,136 on medicine, food, clothes and other household goods and services over the next year if cap and trade passes. The price of everything from cell phones, diapers, aspirin and lipstick will rise because of increased production costs. As a regressive tax, this will disproportionately affect single moms, the poor and minorities."

An additional $1,136 is a hefty chunk of change for a family struggling to make ends meet in today's difficult economic times.

Texas, the second most populous state, is the energy capital of the country. Combs says, "the current plan to implement mandatory emissions caps will weigh far more on Texas than other regions of the country." Perhaps President Obama privately enjoys the slap to the very red state of Texas.

On agriculture, Texas ranks third for agricultural exporting, providing 1.7 million jobs. Cash receipts in 2007 totaled $19.9 billion with the end result of $100 billion to the state's economy. The cap and trade, as passed by the House of Representatives, will impact 3,800 Texas farms, 28,000 beef cattle operations and 640 diaries. According to the Williams web site: "For Texas cotton gins alone, the estimated cost of permitting is pegged at more than $8.5 million for 248 relatively small facilities. CO2 regulations will also increase outlays for all Texas farms, producers and processors for things like equipment installations, irrigation, fertilizer and electricity. The regulations will also have a negative impact on the rural communities in which many of these businesses operate."

Encourage your Senators, strongly, to say no to cap and trade legislation as it is now presented.

3 comments:

AmPowerBlog said...

Wishing you and your family and Happy 4th of July!!

Z said...

I think I'm going to enjoy this slap to TX, too. Because, if he pushes TOO hard, Texans are NOT GOING TO LIKE IT and, they traditionally SHOW THEIR DISLIKE in ways as big as their ol' Dallas sky.
BRING IT ON, OBAMA..tick off a Texan. We'll sit back and watch!!!
and then WE, TOO, are going to stand up and fight.!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, KAREN and family!

srp said...

I am beginning to think the people who elected Obama are too stupid to realize what these proposals will do to THEM as well as the rest of us. He doesn't tell the truth, he manipulates his question and answer sessions with questions from people who are Obama campaigners and workers in ACORN... what a sleeze.

We watched Mr. Smith Goes To Washington this afternoon and it struck me how messed up Washington and Congress and the Federal Government has been for a very long time... and still is today. The problems presented in that old black and white movie are the same, only magnified today.