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Rep. Beth Harwell Hits Cap And Trade

By Kleinheider Posted on July 16, 2009 at 8:23 am

Hard:

“Cap and trade is scary. It’s truly awful,” said Harwell (R-Nashville), who chairs the Commerce Committee. “I have grave concerns about it.”

The bill targets climate change by requiring U.S. companies to reduce carbon emissions and invest in green technology and energy-saving practices.

Backers of the bill say it will create millions of new jobs and reduce dependence on foreign oil, but Harwell said those claims were misleading.

“The goal of cap and trade is for energy to cost more so that we’ll use less of it,” Harwell said. “What that actually means is that the cost of goods and services will go up and consumers won’t be able to afford them. For a state like Tennessee, which relies on sales tax, it’s a terrible idea and will result in the loss of jobs and businesses.”

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24 Responses to “Rep. Beth Harwell Hits Cap And Trade”

  1. Mack writes
    July 16th, 2009 8:39 am

    Then, lets use a more progressive tax…say, on income, so lower income people aren’t taxed on the purchases they have to make.

    Can anyone reasonably argue that we shouldn’t learn to use less energy? The rest of the world already knows how expensive it is, in almost all of its current forms. Perhaps harnessing the sun, while being extremely costly in the beginning, is a wise investment, especially for a State that gets quite a lot of it…

  2. DADvocate writes
    July 16th, 2009 8:55 am

    Backers of the bill say it will create millions of new jobs…

    Promising pie in the sky while pulling the wool over our eyes.

  3. volvoice writes
    July 16th, 2009 10:49 am

    What this bill will create is “millions” of new dollars in the pockets of the corprate entities. The initial quotas will be given away by the government to power companies and other corporate entities that will in turn reap a windfall of fees from the consumer. Professor Fred Singer from the UVA says that the huge finacial racket that will created by the Cap and Trade bill could one day make the UN’s “Oil for Food” scandal in Iraq seem minor in comparison. It amazes me how “Corporate America” continues to fool the left with ideas, like cap and trade, that on their surface appear to help their fellow man, but really are only helping themselves. Wake up guys!

  4. Tom Paine writes
    July 16th, 2009 11:36 am

    Wonder what it is in the water over at TNGOP that’s causing all these state representatives and state senators to start opining about cap-and-trade?

    Has Harwell just opened the e-mail with her talking points from the RNC?

    This reminds me of Jim Bryson’s short-lived attempt to be a thought leader on Bush’s attempt to reform (i.e. privatize) Social Security. He was great at spitting out talking points but swallowed hard when anybody asked him a question about the topic.

    I’d feel a lot better if our state elected officials could speak with greater knowledge about issues of importance to Tennessee, like education, health care, etc.

    State GOP lawmakers barely have any credibility on budget issues, what makes them think we’re going to listen to their bloviating about cap-and-trade?

  5. Donna Locke writes
    July 16th, 2009 12:31 pm

    how “Corporate America” continues to fool the left

    Always reliable.

  6. Brawndo: It's Got Electrolytes! writes
    July 16th, 2009 12:55 pm

    Remember, cap and trade was a conservative idea back in the 90s.

    That said, I’m not a fan of it. My biggest concern about is loosely related to volvoice’s. Larger cash-rich companies can buy up pollution credits that they may not necessarily need and create an artificial shortage that drives up the prices for them, putting competitors at a disadvantage and creating a higher barrier to entry to that industry.

    Corporate America has pulled the wool over the Left’s eyes, just like they had done with the Right for so many years. Cap and trade has noble goals, but it ultimately inhibits or eliminates competition in the marketplace.

  7. Brawndo: It's Got Electrolytes! writes
    July 16th, 2009 12:56 pm

    IMHO, a carbon tax would be the simplest and most effective to administer.

  8. Donna Locke writes
    July 16th, 2009 1:01 pm

    E.g. to my post above: Like how the Nature Conservancy (!) down here in Columbia praises GM for being a good neighbor — even as we choke on the pollution pouring from the smokestacks in Spring Hill some nights.

  9. volvoice writes
    July 16th, 2009 1:09 pm

    Brawndo….why do we need anymore taxes, period? By the time you add federal,state, and local taxes we are giving up between 30-40% of our income as it stands. Why do you think that it takes a two person income just to survive these days…because they get nearly 50% of our money thru taxation.

  10. Brawndo: It's Got Electrolytes! writes
    July 16th, 2009 1:26 pm

    TNVol: I’m all for getting rid of taxes that aren’t good policy, such as eliminating corporate taxes (since they get filtered down to consumers anyway). A carbon tax is a sensible tax because of it’s direct correlation to the externality it’s trying to correct. For fighting pollution and greenhouse gases, it’s a very logical tax.

  11. punkinmon writes
    July 16th, 2009 8:09 pm

    We will all just have to learn to live with less, because corporate America needs more.

  12. Odom's Tanning Bed writes
    July 16th, 2009 9:24 pm

    Cap and Trade will devastate the economy and will hit us hard in Tennessee with lost jobs.

  13. Mike Felten writes
    July 17th, 2009 5:57 am

    Crap and Trade needs to go all this is just a way to get more money out of the people by saying climite change which has never been proven except by al gore who is going to make a lot of money off us. We neen to take the country back and stop big goverment lets all just say no to obama.

  14. idgaf writes
    July 17th, 2009 7:00 am

    The EU tried it and it didn’t work.

    They are moving away from socialism and we are moving full speed ahead toward it.

    Barry (and the dems) is spending us into the poorhouse.

  15. Butch Mays writes
    July 17th, 2009 7:51 am

    It’s Socialism in it’s truist form. I read some of this bill last night and IT SCARES ME TO DEATH! They are going to require you to have your house up to these standards any time you do work on it “requiring a permit” or when you sell it.
    MY FRIENDS THIS IS GOING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR FREEDOM. IT’S TIME FOR THIS TO STOP, NOW! WHAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY?

  16. pat csh writes
    July 17th, 2009 8:34 am

    First of all, Cap and Trade will bring new jobs ,too damn bad you people can’t read . Grab the Bill and read . Oh, sorry gopers can’t read but like Sen. Sessons you guys can do “Crack” . What you gopers want is a Corp. owned controlled country . What big business is after is profits at the expense of the Earth ,Yo Crack heads ,ya live on the Earth.

  17. Brawndo: It's Got What Plants Crave! writes
    July 17th, 2009 9:25 am

    Cap and trade is not socialism. It’s a misguided attempt to correct an undesirable externality, but it’s far from socialism. If anything, it’s a market-based approach that effectively forces businesses to pay for the effects of the pollutants they expel into the public’s air and water. It’s forcing them to take responsibility for their actions, which I thought was a conservative ideal. (But then again, conservatism is far different than what it was a short 15 years ago.)

    Again, the biggest problem with cap and trade is that larger firms have a huge incentive to game the system and create artificial pollution rights shortages to the detriment of their competitors (current and future) and consumers. A carbon tax would be far more efficient and fairer to administer.

  18. Brawndo: It's Got What Plants Crave! writes
    July 17th, 2009 9:29 am

    “First of all, Cap and Trade will bring new jobs ,too damn bad you people can’t read . Grab the Bill and read.”

    Just because the bill says it will create jobs doesn’t mean that will be the end result. I can see it creating jobs for environmental consultants advising smaller firms who will get the short end of the stick with this system. Ultimately, I think it will just empower larger companies over their smaller competitors and discourage competition. I can’t see how that will benefit consumer or create jobs.

  19. Brawndo: It's Got What Plants Crave! writes
    July 17th, 2009 9:34 am

    Conservatives, read this.

    http://www.thenextright.com/jon-henke/how-republicans-should-win-the-climate-fight

  20. TNVolunteer73 writes
    July 17th, 2009 9:47 am

    Brrawndo Cap and Trade does nothing to fight pollution OR CO2 emmissions.

    it is just a revenue source.

    other nations are not suject to these restraints.

    2. If companies do pollute they can by CREDITS.. and STILL POLLUTE

    3. Global warming is a myth, because of all greenhouse Gasses created, 97% are from NATURAL (NOT MAN MADE SOURCES). and we cannot control the natural Greenhouse gas emissions.

  21. Blue writes
    July 17th, 2009 12:59 pm

    This will bring jobs to TN. But the GOP wants the jobs yesterday, it takes a little time to get any business started. After eight years of Bush/Cheney, at least something is being done and it does not deal with oil, oil and oil. Beth, let’s shoot the environment in the foot, and let the big money bags called big business fund your campaign. Your talking points come from Fox News. Be creative and do some reaearch before you make a statement about something that you are not up on.

  22. TNVolunteer73 writes
    July 17th, 2009 1:16 pm

    pat sch

    I have read the bill… the bill will kill jobs in the south and Midwest and southwest.

    http://www.heritage.org/research/energyandenvironment/tst050709b.cfm

    Our analytical models are not suited to making projections beyond 2030. Nevertheless, the economic impacts of this cap-and-trade program in just the first two decades were extraordinary. The estimated aggregate losses to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, are $4.8 trillion.

    you cannot remove 4.8 trillion dollars from our economy and not lose jobs. about 800,000 - 1,000,000

  23. PartiallyDeflected writes
    July 17th, 2009 1:52 pm

    Solar panels contain cadmium which present a major hazardous waste disposal problem at the end of their 20-30 year lifespan.

    All cap and trade will do is move manufacturing (and pollution production) to nations with less regulation. So instead of things being manufactured in plants like Suabru’s zero-landfill factory in Indiana, they’ll be made in China where they just dump the waste in the nearest field and don’t care if local villagers are getting sick.

  24. Cookevillian writes
    July 17th, 2009 4:54 pm

    Everybody is listening to the hype of cap and trade and how it will save the earth. BS. Look at Spain. They seem to be the “model” that everyone wants to follow.

    Spain has lost 2.2 jobs for every “green job” that was created. Unemployment is now at 17.5% and is expected to top 20%.

    Is that what you really want? I sure don’t.

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