Reader: Hill showed political courage on global warming



I’m writing to thank Rep. Baron Hill for his vote in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act a few weeks back. Considering that Indiana is 96 percent powered by coal, this was a politically courageous vote — but it shouldn’t have to be.

Implementing a competitive, market-based cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is just smart policy — economically, environmentally, for consumers and for the country.

Cap and trade will not double your utility bills. I don’t know where this figure came from, but if you look at objective, public analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office or EPA, the estimates are about $175 per year per household in 2020 — that’s 50 cents a day! The cap wouldn’t even be fully phased in until 2016.

Furthermore, these figures are estimates. Time and again, we’ve seen that when you set a market signal and make companies compete, consumers benefit. The net savings consumers will get from cars that get more mileage and from homes/appliances that are more energy-efficient will more than outweigh increased per-unit costs of carbon-intensive energy. Cap and trade would not increase the costs of low/zero-carbon wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, nuclear and energy efficiency one dime.

Putting a strong, science-based price on carbon will unleash new waves of technology and innovation. It’s critical to America’s future economic competitiveness. That’s probably why major corporations like GM, GE, Duke, Ford, Caterpillar and Shell are all calling for cap and trade — they want market certainty so they can invest and get ahead in clean energy.

The national security/energy independence benefits of domestic renewable energy and energy efficiency are obvious. As the owner of a renewable energy systems contracting business, I know that we can extend energy independence down to the household/farm level with solar panels, small-scale wind and methane digesters. There’s nothing more pro-consumer than being the producer of your own energy and feeding it back to a smart grid.

Finally, global warming is a real and serious problem with moral implications. We have an obligation to our children to pass on a stable climate and clean environment.

I urge Sens. Bayh and Lugar to find the political courage to follow in Baron’s footsteps.

— Pat Coxon, Floyds Knobs