Hatch and Herbert Host Cap and Trade Forum

09.04.2009 by Elizabeth Ziegler

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch co-hosted a forum at the Utah Capitol Thursday on the Waxman-Markey cap and trade proposal in Congress. Photo by Elizabeth Ziegler.

(KCPW News) Senator Orrin Hatch and Governor Gary Herbert convened a forum yesterday to discuss the cost of a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade bill that’s moving through Congress. Hatch said the bill will have a lasting negative impact on Utah’s economy.

“Concerning the pain that Utahns will be asked to bare, and the loss of competitiveness for our entire nation, Waxman-Markey is a risk I’m not willing to take,” Hatch said.

Participants in the forum included representatives from utilities, the petroleum industry and agriculture, all of them against cap and trade. They say it will drive up the cost of electricity, gas and commodities produced in the state, and force farmers and ranchers out of business.

More than 80 people attended the Capitol forum, with comments from the audience about two-to-one against cap and trade. The audience booed one supporter of the bill who asked about the cost of pollution and climate change.  Another complained the forum was one-sided, with no panelists who support cap-and-trade. Governor Herbert said cap and trade’s benefits are already well known, so the forum was organized to focus solely on the economic impact of the bill.

“We need to make sure that we take care of our home and make sure that our air is breathable,” Herbert said. “But what isn’t talked about as much is: What is the cost in proportion to the benefit that comes with a cap and trade piece of legislation”

The Waxman-Markey bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed the House of Representatives in June. None of Utah’s three Congressmen voted in favor of it.