Cap and Trade Bill Hits MN the Hardest

During the first week of June, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to consider Cap and Trade legislation - more aptly called Tax and Trade legislation. Here are some pretty depressing stats to consider should this bill become law. Be sure to click on the links for details.

The bottom line: this is bad news for Minnesota.

According to The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis Report on the Cap and Trade bill (S. 2191), Minnesota would lead the nation in per-capita job loss should this legislation become law. Across the country, the already hard hit manufacturing sector of our economy would lose millions more jobs. Household energy costs would rise dramatically, and household income would decline.

What is cap and trade? In this case, the federal government would impose arbitrary limits on six emission gases, with the primary emphasis on carbon dioxide. In order to cap these emissions, the government would sell permits to power plants, refineries, and natural gas producers, which will be passed along in the form of increased energy costs to consumers (much like an energy tax). It will lead to large transfers of income from people in Minnesota to special interests in Washington.

How much will it cost you? When S. 2191 is fully implemented in

Minnesota, the average household would see energy costs rise by $823 more per year in 2025 because of this legislation. The increase in the average electric bill would be at least 80% more than under current law, and the average natural gas bill increase would be at least 37% over current projections if S. 2191 becomes law.

Moreover, according to the Heritage analysis, the trade-off for the damage this Tax and Trade bill would do to the economy is "...very little change in global temperature...perhaps even smaller than the .07 of a degree Celsius drop in temperature that many scientisits expected from worldwide compliance with the Kyoto climate change accords."