Cap-and-Trade and Virginia’s Manufacturers

Vassey's written testimony neatly and succinctly captures the "truth" about cap-and-trade for Virginia's manufacturers:

"Proponents of ‘cap & trade' believe immediate regulation will force industry to stop using traditional sources of energy. Unfortunately, this position demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of global manufacturing today. The truth is ‘cap & trade' is just another tax on businesses and consumers-regressively so on manufacturing-and it does nothing to stop ‘leakage' to nations with more favorable conditions. For example, even if Virginia limited all of its CO2 emissions, China's CO2 emissions growth alone would replace all of Virginia's CO2 emissions in only 77 days. Virginia is .44% of global GHG emissions."  (Link to written testimony).

Vassey also said that cap-and-trade's "effect of limiting traditional fuel sources" will not "encourage energy independence for the U.S."  This is due in large part, he said, to the "technology challenges of carbon sequestration, affordability and reliability of wind and solar energy, and biomass competition with food and forest products industries." 

So, what's the bottom line for Vassey?  It's simple: "We are concerned that these bills will ‘cap' industrial competitiveness and ‘trade' domestic manufacturing jobs abroad for an entirely undefined environmental benefit. We can do better and we must do better."

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