Global Warming Plan Would Steamroll Iowa

A revamped climate and energy bill released last Friday by Senator Barbara Boxer, of California, and Senator John Kerry, of Massachusetts, would have a negative and unfair impact on consumers in Iowa and the Midwest compared to those on the East and West coasts.  I’ve been a vocal critic of climate legislation that saddles the United States with higher energy costs while ignoring large emitters like India and China.  However, if senators are determined to move unilaterally before reaching an international agreement, I’d expect the economic costs of legislation to be applied equitably across the United States.

In testimony before Congress, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office repeatedly confirmed the widespread belief that a cap and trade system would result in higher electricity costs, as well as higher prices for manufactured goods because of the energy required for production.  Consumers would shoulder the majority of new taxes imposed on utility companies.  In an effort to alleviate this financial burden, the Boxer-Kerry plan, as well as legislation passed last July by the House of Representatives, hands out free emission allowances to utilities so they don’t have to bear the additional expense of purchasing allowances.  In doing so, both bills use an ill-conceived formula that acts as a boon to the East and West coasts, where less coal-fired electricity is used and fewer allowances would be needed.  This would come at the direct expense of the Midwest, which would need relatively more allowances but would actually get less.

The unfair treatment would come on top of the fact that the Midwest already shoulders an unfair burden because of its reliance on coal and the negative impact cap and trade would have on agriculture and the use of nitrogen fertilizers.  This week, I wrote Senators Boxer and Kerry asking them to reevaluate their proposal for its disproportionately negative impact on the Midwest.  Again, while I’m opposed to any unilateral action on global warming, if the current leadership in both the House of Representatives and the Senate is determined to go it alone, I’m going to fight to make sure Iowa doesn’t get steamrolled in the process.