Manufacturers vs. the Obama Energy Tax

From a Fabricating & Metalworking magazine press release:

PELHAM, Ala., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ — Metal components are used in virtually

all of the world’s most significant markets and innovations — think about

precision medical instruments, the aerospace industry, oil and gas equipment,

automotive machinery, computers, appliances and more — and each requires

electricity as they are being manufactured.
If the government has its way, that energy will soon make metalworking

applications more expensive and will ultimately affect costs all the way

through the supply chain, down to the prices paid by consumers.
Fabricating & Metalworking editor Mike Riley has been the most outspoken

opponent of the federal cap-and-trade legislation, also referred to as the

Waxman-Markey Bill.
“Passage of this bill will impose the largest tax increase in the history of

the world on you and me,” says Riley. “Most of the people I’ve spoken with

recently have never even heard of the Waxman-Markey bill. Under this

cap-and-trade legislation, utilities and other producers of CO2 will have

limits imposed on them by the honorables that they must meet by either

reducing their CO2 emissions or ‘buying’ credits from those companies that are

under those limits.”
“No one disagrees with the need to reduce carbon emissions, but cap-and-trade

legislation is not deterring companies from emitting CO2, they are allowing it

for a price,” notes Riley.
Fabricating & Metalworking recently covered remarks delivered at the 11th

annual Electric Power Conference & Exhibition in Rosemont, IL, where Michael

Morris, the chairman of American Electric Power in Columbus, OH, criticized

the use of cap-and-trade revenues to fund health care reform instead of

reinvesting in the electricity business, funding research and development into

carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) and other electric power infrastructure

investments.
“This is a regressive tax that is levied on business simply because they use

electricity. It is essential that our industry understands how this will

affect their operations,” states Riley.
Riley examines this bill and its severe impact on the steel industry in a

two-part series: Living in Neverland, which addresses the media’s lack of

interest in covering the truth about the impact of cap-and-trade; Part 1:

Naked and Unashamed, explores how the bill works and affects industry. Read

both of these in-depth stories at www.FandMmag.com.