Senate Takes on Cap and Trade
Washington, D.C., September 29, 2009—On Wednesday Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) are scheduled to introduce global warming legislation that would create a “cap and trade” system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Competitive Enterprise Institute urges senators to carefully consider the economic impacts such a system would impose on American families, especially in light of recent revelations from the U.S. Treasury Department.
“The release of the Treasury’s cost estimates – some rising as high as $300 billion per year – demonstrate what is really at stake in this debate,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI. “With the White House and Democrats in Congress arguing that cap and trade will be cheap, or even an economic boon, it’s essential that our senators keep the real costs in mind when deciding whether or not to vote for what would amount to the biggest tax increase in the nation’s history.”
“The global warming scare is built on speculation and hype,” said CEI Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis. “Economy-chilling cap-and-trade schemes pose a much bigger threat to our health and welfare than do greenhouse gases.”
Energy Experts Available for Interviews
Myron Ebell
Director of Energy Policy
202-320-6685
Julie Walsh
Global Warming Policy Analyst
202-331-2266
Marlo Lewis
Senior Fellow
202-669-6693
William Yeatman
Energy Policy Analyst
202-331-2270
CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.