We Need A National Energy That Doesn't Pick Winners And Losers

Floor Speech

Mrs. CAPITO. Madam Speaker, I'm here today to talk about the same issue that my colleague from Florida just talked about, and that's energy. He alluded to the energy bill that's been moving through Congress over the last several months, but he neglected to say that in that bill are some real costs for real people. And I think these are the important issues in front of our Nation today.

Energy, we found when the price of gasoline went up last summer over $4 a gallon, we were pressed, I think appropriately, to try to find an energy future, a plan for our energy future, and we never really answered that question. Well, this morning in Charleston, West Virginia, where I'm from, the price of gasoline went up to $2.75 and has been going up almost daily. So we need a national energy plan that doesn't pick winners and losers, that takes into account real costs for real people.

Right now, the bill that's passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee is a national energy tax on every single American. We call it cap-and-tax. The supporters call it cap-and-trade. But what it is, in reality, is it has serious problems for States such as mine in West Virginia. Ninety-eight percent of the energy generation in our State is generated through coal. Well, naturally, we're the second largest coal-producing State in this Nation.

We've powered America for generations by giving of our natural resources across this country, and I'm proud to say we have a proud heritage, not only of turning the lights on in America but also of the coal mining jobs and the coal mining communities and families throughout my State.

But this will picks winners and losers because the heartland, of which I consider West Virginia--and we just heard the gentleman from Florida talk a lot about solar--but the heartland, which has had to rely on fossil fuels for energy generation and to keep our manufacturing jobs, we're going to be the losers here. We're going to be the ones who are going to pay the heavy price.

What kind of price are we going to pay? Number one, job loss. It's estimated that in my State alone over 10,000 jobs will be lost in our manufacturing sector because of this bill. And you ask, why is that? Well, because our industrial input will be lower because of the high cost of meeting the demands, because of the lack of a transitional period in this bill. We'll also lose probably many, many, 10s of thousands of jobs in our coal mining industry and associated industries alone.

Also, for the individuals, how is this going to impact the individual who is paying now the $2.75 in West Virginia? In some areas of the country, that probably sounds pretty good, but in ours, it's going up. We've had the luxury of lower energy prices, and we are pleased about that. But it's escaping us, and in this bill, we will no longer have that.

If you look at the West Virginia electricity, prices under this bill will go up over 100. Think about that: 100 percent of your electricity bill, somewhere in the estimate of $2- to $3,000 a year.

And who's the loser there? Small businesses are the loser. They're going to lose jobs because they're going to have the higher cost of turning on their electricity, running their business. And what's that going to result in? Job loss. That's going to result in lack of capital to invest in a small business. And then the higher cost of transportation would also hurt not only individuals but small businesses as well.

But it's also going to hurt those people who can barely afford to keep the lights on as it is, and those are our lower income folks. By the year 2020, it is estimated that with this bill, with this cap-and-tax bill, with this national energy tax, that the lower income folks across this Nation, that 25 percent of their income will go to paying for their energy costs.

Now, let's think about this. We've just gone through a housing crisis, where people are losing their homes and people are having trouble, people are losing jobs. Now, we're going to say to you, a quarter of your income is going to go to one of the basic needs that you have, and that's the basic need for energy.

Another loser are our State budgets. Think what an impact a national energy tax is going to have on every hospital, on every public school, on every university. Think of the cost of running the school buses that we've seen as the rise up in energy costs.

So I don't think that this is the kind of bill that is going to solve the problem. It sets up winners and losers, and it has real costs to real people. It does have in there a great portion of carbon capture and sequestration where we will use coal, and we will use the technology and innovation, but we need to keep moving in this direction so we can be realistic about how we're going to meet our energy needs and how we're going to transition to the next best source.

Green jobs and green future, that's what we all want. I think that it's a laudable goal, and it's one that we will reach, but we've got to do it where we're not picking winners and losers, where we realize that there are real costs to real people.

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