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OPINIONS
Voice of the people
Cap and trade bad for Kentucky
I strongly encourage you to contact your congressman to oppose the carbon cap and trade tax bill being considered by the House of Representatives. This bill is particularly harmful to Kentucky's coal mining jobs, electricity generating jobs, oil refining, chemical manufacturing businesses, aluminum plants, and auto manufacturing plants. It will be devastating for the poor and for retirees on fixed incomes. It will eliminate and move overseas good-paying professional and union jobs.
"The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" has nothing to do with U.S. energy security, nor will it change global emissions of carbon because it fails to address emissions from India and China. What it will do is increase energy costs for families and businesses. This will mean job losses, add dramatic volatility to energy prices and prevent economic recovery. Kentucky and other energy producing states will unfairly bear the burden of these huge costs. As a Kentucky Democrat, I feel that the Democrat party supporters of this bill are leaving us behind as road kill.
According to the Stern Review, every Kentuckian will see electricity prices increase by an average of $1,798.23 annually as a result of "cap and trade." If this bill is passed there will be no future for our children and grandchildren in Kentucky.
Based on my 30 years of experience working as an energy efficiency and environmental professional, I view this bill as nothing short of a disaster. It is a copy of the European Union cap-and-trade tax that is widely known to be nothing short of a failure. Because NASA satellite data shows that there has been no global warming since 2001, there is no urgency to pass this ill-conceived bill.
Please tell your congressman or senator to vote no on this bill.
Charles Bennett
Catlettsburg, Ky.
Mountaintops can't be replaced
I think I will plant me a seed, to see what grows. But I think, what type seed will I plant?
Will it be a tree, a grass, a wild flower? I think, they will all grow. A little sun, a tad of water. Simple enough, I think.
At least, it will help replace what mountaintop removal takes away.
I think, I will replant me a Mountain. But where do I start? A grain of sand, a handful of dirt, a little sun, a tad of water. But wait, it all washes away.
Who would of thought?
I think!
Randell Midkiff
Barboursville
