No doubt many Americans have either witnessed firsthand or seen on the news what is happening to the health care debate at Members of Congress’s town hall meetings across the country. Now, the petroleum industry and other advocacy groups are trying to get the same enthusiasm going to try and defeat or make changes to the climate change legislation Congress is currently considering—though, perhaps without the yelling.The American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Farm Bureau Federation, among other organizations, are taking a page out of the healthcare lobby’s play book and are trying to organize anti-climate bill rallies in 20 states across the country. According to Ian Talley’s report for DOW JONES NEWSWIRE, which can be found on the Wall Street Journal’s website, the organizations are going so far as to fund the rallies. The message the organizations are spreading in the fliers they are currently distributing for the rallies is relatively simple, ‘"climate-change legislation being considered in Washington will cause huge economic pain and produce little environmental gain."’
The fliers also state that the House-passed bill would cost 2 million American jobs, would lead to gas and diesel prices up to $4, would threaten US competiveness, and would harm US energy security. Cathy Landry, spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute told Talley, ‘"We're not about yelling at your congressman . . . We are about giving citizens a voice to make changes to the bill so that it doesn't affect energy prices."’
Frank O’Donnell of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch thinks the upcoming rallies were bound to happen sooner or later. ‘"We've all seen those angry folks raising heck about health care . . . So I guess it was inevitable a special interest would try the same thing on the climate legislation.”’
Perhaps the most contentious issue in the legislation is what the actual cost will be to the average energy consumer. Both sides offer different data to support their position. The Obama Administration points to the EPA study that showed the costs would be negligible, while conservative groups argue the legislation will costs American families thousands of dollars in additional energy bills. Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration has estimated extra energy bill costs could range between $26 per household to $362 by 2020 depending on the scenarios employed to run the calculation.
One thing is for certain; the debate over the climate change legislation is about to be a bit more “heated.” To read the Talley article click here.
Posted: 08/12/09
