Lummis Slams Obama Cap & Trade Proposal

Press Release

Lummis Slams Obama Cap & Trade Proposal

During a House Budget Committee hearing today, U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., grilled Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner over the President's proposal to cap and tax carbon emissions. Projections show the President's proposal will raise energy costs for consumers, result in greater dependence on foreign sources of energy, and cut up to 1.5 million jobs.

Obama's budget includes a new policy to cap overall carbon emissions and auction off carbon credits imposing an estimated $646 billion cost to consumers over 10 years by making carbon-based energy more expensive.

Lummis told Secretary Geithner that "while the Administration seeks to undo the ‘huge damage to the productive capacity of the economy,' the cap and trade proposal being floated by the President will destroy the productive capacity of Wyoming's economy."

"This proposal will send oil and gas producers overseas," Lummis continued. "That will only hamper oil and gas production in the United States, making us more reliant on foreign sources of energy. It will also harm domestic production of coal, uranium, solar and wind energy - all which have a direct impact on Wyoming families and jobs."

"Every family in Wyoming will be directly impacted by this proposal. It will be a direct tax on everyone who fills their car up with gas, switches on their lights, and heats their home in the winter."

One recent economic study predicts that similar cap and trade policies will raise energy costs by an average of $516 per year for each household. When the costs of other energy goods are included, Americans would need to spend an extra $1,100 on average under this new policy.

"Republicans and Democrats should work together to make real progress in promoting clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment, but ‘cap and trade' is not the answer."

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