First Shot Fired In The Democrat’s War On Electricity

Remember Obama’s campaign promise, that he repeats to this day, that he won’t raise taxes on 95% of the American people? Well, raise your hand if you use electricity, because if the Democrat’s get their way, it’s going to cost more. How is that not a tax?

Climate Bill Set for Vote After Deal Is Reached

A deal on the climate bill has been reached with the head of the House Agriculture Committee, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi scheduled a vote on the legislation for Friday.

Late Tuesday, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) said the accord with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D., Calif.) would allay the concerns of many Farm Belt lawmakers.

The legislation had stalled last week because of opposition from Farm Belt Democrats who were concerned their states will face heavier costs under the proposed law to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

Under the agreement, Mr. Peterson said, rural electric cooperatives will receive more free emissions permits that power producers will be required to hold in order to emit carbon dioxide.

The legislation will also place the Agriculture Department — rather than the Environmental Protection Agency, as initially proposed — in charge of determining what kinds of agricultural practices will qualify as “offsets,” activities that avoid or reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The question was important to farm groups because the legislation would allow businesses to pay farmers to engage in activities like injecting the soil with seed rather than plowing the ground and causing the release of carbon. Many farm groups had feared the EPA would be less likely to approve such projects than the Agriculture Department.

Opponents and supporters of landmark climate legislation are ramping up their public-relations campaigns ahead of the planned House vote. The Obama administration is pushing the measure as a job-creator, while critics, including many Republicans, are portraying the bill as an energy tax that could slow the economy.

The bill aims to cut U.S. emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below 2005 levels by midcentury, creating a market for companies to buy and sell the right to emit carbon dioxide and other gases. It also mandates a new renewable electricity standard and establishes new national building codes.

Mr. Obama on Tuesday said the House climate bill is “extraordinarily important for our country,” urging House members “to come together and pass it.”

Here’s the most recent “official” version of the bill: H.R. 2454 – American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. It’s 1200+ pages long, but even from a casual perusal of the table of contents, it’s quite obvious that this bill is one gigantic boondoggle that’s going to cost every American taxpayer at both ends, coming and going, through higher energy costs as well as a huge increase in government spending to subsidize and pay for all the Democrat pet projects stuffed into the legislation.

See also:
US Pelosi’s Office: House to Vote on Climate Bill By Friday
Vote Set on House Climate Bill
House aims for Friday vote on climate bill
Energy bill nears vote in House, but what’s in it for consumers?
Peterson gets his way with climate and energy bill
Word games could threaten climate bill
An Inconvenient Truth: Waxman-Markey climate bill in trouble
Climate Bill to Cost Average Consumer $175 a Year: CBO
CBO Grossly Underestimates Costs of Cap and Trade
Climate bill to pay hundreds of dollars in rebates
A Bad Bill For Cap-And-Trade

I can only hope that this monstrosity doesn’t make it out of the House and if it does, it somehow dies a slow death in the Senate. However, since the Democrat’s control Congress, I wouldn’t hold your breath, although that might help cut down on that evil carbon dioxide that was only just recently declared a nasty, poisonous pollutant, after previously being an essential element of life on Earth for the preceding millions of years since life on Earth first appeared.

/so, bend over and prepare to take it in the wallet for Al Gore and all the rest of the Loony Left Wailing Climate Banshees, because electricity is bad for us and Mother Gaea!