As all of you know, scientific study of global temperatures has gained significant media coverage over the past few years.  Scientists have studied the issues and developed theories about the causes of some increases in global temperatures.  However, these scientific studies and theories continue to evolve as scientists have revealed that global temperatures have actually declined over the past decade.

As the science continues to unveil, the new Administration in Washington D.C. is not waiting to change our nation's energy infrastructure and is using Climate Change as the foundation for such legislation.  In fact, the regulatory strategy includes a potential endangerment finding by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to urge Congress to pass the Administration's proposed legislation very quickly.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (California) want to act on legislation in 2009.  In addition, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman (California) has indicated he wants to move a bill out of committee by Memorial Day.

 

Time is running short and your Cooperative needs your assistance to help raise concerns with Congress.  Your Cooperative is an advocate and strongly supports energy efficiency and conservation.  In addition, your Cooperative's wholesale power supplier has joined the National Renewable Energy Cooperative in an effort to implement more renewable energy supply at a reasonable cost.  However, your Cooperative is very concerned about the increased energy costs that will result from the legislation that is currently being proposed.

The proposed legislation is calling for a carbon cap and trade policy but I want you to know this is just another term for a "carbon tax" that would be imposed on all of us as energy consumers.  The cap and trade philosophy seems to be preferred by some lawmakers because it doesn't have the title of a "tax" and Congress wouldn't have to set the price of the tax, it would be determined by Wall Street and the markets.  This policy will allow Wall Street traders/investors, entrepreneurs and other special interest groups to buy and sell (trade) these credits at profits, driving the cost of these credits even higher, causing you as an energy consumer to pay even more in your electric bill.  This proposed legislation will add significant costs to all of us as energy consumers and increase profits for some Wall Street traders/investors at a time when our economy is weak and layoffs are increasing.

 

The proposed carbon cap and trade policy will generate billions of dollars for government spending at the expense of energy consumers.  One would think that if Climate Change was the reason to implement such a costly "tax" on all energy consumers, then the proposed legislation would use the billions of dollars generated to develop needed technologies to remove emissions from generating plants and automobiles.  However, the proposed legislation's plan is to use the vast majority of generated funds for other purposes and not fully fund needed technologies to reduce emissions.  Why would proposed Climate Change legislation not fully fund the needed technologies to reduce emissions?

According to a study conducted by our wholesale power supplier, emissions control mandates in proposed legislation could increase your monthly electric bill each month between $27.35 and $109.40 which equates to $328.20 and $1,312.80 annually for every 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity consumed (see chart above).

Your Cooperative's goal is to inform you and members of Congress about the associated costs with the proposed legislation.  Your Cooperative also needs your help.  I would like for every reader who shares your Cooperative's concern to go to our website, www.seiec.com , click on the link to www.ourenergy.coop and send an email to your member of Congress and your U.S. Senators expressing your concerns about affordability.  You may also complete the attached form (click here to display form) and return it to your Cooperative office.  We will send an email to Congress on your behalf.

Cost of CO2 Emissions/ metric Ton	Added Cost Per kWh	Increase per month for 1000 kWh
$80	$0.10940	$109.40
$60	$0.08206	$ 82.06
$40	$0.05471	$ 54.71
$20	$0.02735	$ 27.35