by Richard Morrison
November 11, 2009
1. ENVIRONMENT
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on cap and trade
legislation.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Director
of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron
Ebell on the effects of restricting
access to affordable energy:
“The Kerry-Boxer bill is within the jurisdiction of the
Finance Committee because it is a tax bill. In fact, Kerry-Boxer would be
the largest tax increase in world history. While Senators Kerry and Boxer talk
about creating clean energy jobs, they fail to mention that raising energy
prices will cause many more Americans to lose their jobs. Higher energy
prices means that people will have less money to spend on everything
else—restaurants, entertainment, travel, clothing, electronics, cars, houses,
and food.”
2. HEALTH
Concerns grow over an
alleged link between cell phone use and brain tumors.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Journalism Fellow Ryan Young on public health and spending priorities:
“Deaths from cancer attributable to
cell phone use? Zero. There is an important lesson to be learned here. Think of
it like this: every dollar and every hour of researchers’ time spent
investigating cancer risks from cell phones is money and time not
spent curing heart disease. Or cancer itself. Or stroke. These “big three”
combine to end more than a million lives each and every year. Which is a better
use of limited research resources?”
3. TRADE
Senators endorse the idea of taxes
on goods imported from countries without global warming regulations.
CEI Expert Available
to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Fran
Smith on this alarming
development:
“Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is
raising the stakes on a U.S. climate bill by endorsing the idea of some sort of
tariff on goods from countries that haven’t taken steps to suppress fossil fuel
use…This unfortunate idea is gaining greater traction among global warming
advocates as a way to maintain U.S. competitiveness for industries, such as
steel and cement, that would be facing higher costs if an energy suppression
bill to address global warming is passed. Proponents of ‘border measures’
also see this as a way to curtail so-called leakage of carbon-intensive industries
and related jobs to other countries without similar constraints.”
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