Wow, we found a honest, truth telling Democrat Senator in Sacramento.
“Summarizing what he took away from the report and hearing, Wright said, “It is clear that this cap and trade will have no impact at all on climate change. It will add significant cost to business and threatens the economic future of this state. The cap can be achieved without the trade. Trade encourages gaming of the system and has the very real potential to drive business away.”
Glad to see a Democrat admit the truth. California is in a Depression. On January 1, 2013 one billion per year will be taken from businesses and given to government. Instead of cleaning the air, Guv Brown is going to use the money for his choo choo train. Al Gore and his money making climate change machine has made him rich and the rest of society poor. Will we stop the Cap and Trade disaster?
Wright: Cap and trade scheme threatens California’s economic future
Senator Rod Wright (D) 8/15/12
Senate Job Creation and Retention Committee examines economic impact of AB 32 on California
SACRAMENTO – Senator Roderick D Wright (D-Inglewood) led a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on California Job Creation and Retention on Tuesday morning in Sacramento, examining the economic impacts on the state from the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
The Act, created under Assembly Bill 32 (Nunez and Pavley, 2006) to put California at the forefront of efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, ostensibly to protect California industry from the detrimental effects of “global warming,” has led to the implementation of a market-based “cap-and-trade” approach to reducing pollution. The “cap” creates a declining statewide cap on the allowable emission of greenhouses gases from each source. Under the “trade,” those entities who can more readily cut their emissions can sell their remaining air credits to those who continue to pollute.
A report on the predicted impact of the Act, released in June of this year, gave a conservative estimate that the associated costs to California residents will total $35 billion in 2020 – more than the state’s combined revenue from sales taxes, corporation taxes, insurance taxes, estate taxes, liquor taxes, tobacco taxes and vehicle fees – with the average family paying an extra $2,500 a year for energy. Additionally, the report says the state will have 262,000 fewer jobs in 2020 than if AB 32 had not been enacted.
Summarizing what he took away from the report and hearing, Wright said, “It is clear that this cap and trade will have no impact at all on climate change. It will add significant cost to business and threatens the economic future of this state. The cap can be achieved without the trade. Trade encourages gaming of the system and has the very real potential to drive business away.”
At the hearing, Wright testified that every time we have made a unilateral change it has been devastating to the economy, pointing to the departure of the Firestone and Uniroyal plants in Los Angeles. He used the example of truck stops popping up just outside our state’s borders, where truckers fill up before entering the state to avoid additional California taxes, as a scenario where businesses find a way to get around California regulations and California loses out on hundreds of millions each year in sales tax revenue.
Witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing included representatives of the California Air Resources Board, which is charged with implementing AB 32, the Legislative Analyst’s Office and industries and individual businesses impacted by the Act. Several environmental organizations had confirmed their participation and sent last-minute cancellations.
Cap and trade schemes are the way politicians raise money for government programs and spending. Global warming is an excuse to do so. Europe is doing the same thing.
Politicians will do anything to increase spending, regulate business to death and raise taxes. It does not matter if it hurts the economy or causes job losses. The only way to stop this? The ballot.
August 22, 2012 at 10:16 am
It is indeed heartening to hear a democrat speak common sense on this issue. A relevant quote from Steve McIntyre, noted scientific critic of man-made global warming theory, “…If resources are limited, then expenditures on acts of petty virtue that may make microscopic changes, that have no impact on climate – should be put under the microscope to see that they make best use of social resources compared to adaptation…” http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/12/mcintyre_in_london/
AB 32 is a hammer on California industry to achieve a minuscule reduction in CO2, a harmless gas, while China and India have more than doubled in the last 5 years. It should be obvious to all that AB 32 can never affect climate. Jerry Brown is the new Man from La Mancha killing not CO2 windmills but instead the CA economy.
August 18, 2012 at 10:02 pm