Boucher: Energy Bill Will Not Cost Anyone Their Jobs, Including Coal Miners
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Boucher: Energy Bill Will Not Cost Anyone Their...
Less than two weeks after voting in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA-9th District) defended his vote Tuesday. The commonly called ?Cap and Trade Bill? narro...
Nate Morabito/11 Connects
Less than two weeks after voting in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA-9th District) defended his vote Tuesday. The commonly called “Cap and Trade Bill” narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month. Senate debate is expected in the fall. Boucher is one of 219 representatives who voted in favor of the legislation.
Proponents claim the act will reduce emissions of green house gases, increase the country’s use of green power, and decrease dependence on foreign oil. Opponents say it will dramatically drive up the price of everything from gasoline to electricity to the cost of selling your home. Some also fear it will cost millions of jobs. However, Boucher says there is minimal cost when it comes to the legislation.
“The cost of this program when it is fully implemented in the middle years of the next decade would be less than the cost of a postage stamp per day for the typical American family,“ Boucher said.
Boucher also says the bill he endorsed won’t eliminate a single job.
“There will be no job loss as a consequence of this legislation,“ Boucher said. “As a matter of fact, when this measure is signed into law, it will be a job creator.“
In addition to the creation of millions of green jobs, Boucher says the coal market will grow too.
“According to the Environmental Protection Agency, coal use will be greater under this bill in 2020 than it is at the present time,“ Boucher said.
Those expectations are to hard to believe for some. Alpha Natural Resources will soon become the third largest coal producing company in the United States. Located in Boucher’s backyard of Abingdon, Virginia, the company admits it still has its concerns about the energy bill.
“With what Congressman Boucher was able to get changed in the original proposal out of the House, it’s much more acceptable to the industry than it would have been,“ Alpha Natural Resources Chairman and CEO Mike Quillen said.
Despite that praise, Quillen says the legislation still remains unacceptable.
“We are very concerned that there could be significant job losses in the coal industry,“ he said.
That is especially concerning for Alpha Natural Resources and its 6,500 employees (1,200 of those employees are in Southwest Virginia). Quillen says his employees have already shared their fears. As it stands right now, Quillen doubts the coal industry can reduce emissions without reducing coal production, meaning people will lose their jobs.
“Our analysis is there’s probably going to be about 2.2 jobs lost for every ‘green’ job created,“ Quillen said.
Still even with those concerns, Boucher insists coal miners have nothing to worry about.
“There will be no job loss associated with this measure,“ Boucher said.
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Reader Reactions
seawing, quite possibly he’s crossed the line this time. There are a lot of people, including democrats, up here in the coalfields who’ve about had a belly full of him. I hope that translates to him being unemployed 2010.
Russ ;I e-mailed Boucher and asked him not to vote for this thing. I didn’t anything from him so I pulled his web page up and read what he said on the house floor. He has turned into a lap puppy for Peloski and Obama no matter what the people in his district wants in my opinion. I hope people will wake up in 2010 and correct what is happening to this country but I doubt that they will. It’s still party first; country second and always will be until our country is destroyed I think.
seawing, he not only voted for it, he promoted. He spoke in favor of it on the house floor. He believes as long as he brings home the bacon he is invincible. You can see it in his demeanor, and his speech. Sadly, he may be right.
Boucher is living in a dream world if he believes what he is saying. Several people have told me they e-mailed him asking him to vote against this bill. If Congressman Boucher won’t listen to the people in his district then he needs to go back to being Citizen Boucher in my opinion.
Again Boucher is not revealing how everything we buy will increase in price due to higher energy costs. During the campaign Obama said energy prices will skyrocket. Who is lying, Boucher or Obama?
EaTn, you are either ignorant, naive, or stupid, which is it? People with your attitude are why we have these politicians for life. This country is on the wrong track, and legislators like Boucher are the primary cause of it. We better wise up before it’s to late!
“Our analysis is there’s probably going to be about 2.2 jobs lost for every ‘green’ job created,“ Quillen said.
Mike Quillen represents one of the larger employers in Boucher’s back yard. He looks at legislation which has a direct impact on Alpha’s operations, and has to make a business assessment of the impact on the company, employees, earnings and ultimately his job.
Well…who are you going to believe???
Congressman Boucher,
Do you believe the citizens of Southwest Virginia are truly that stupid. Cap-and-Trade will not only the US thousands of jobs but it will also cost each and every American thousands of dollars a year. Do the citizens of Southwest Virginia a favor and resign now so that we put a competent individual into your post. You have never done anything for this region of the state or these United States for that matter.
Does anyone remember when we were told that NAFTA and then at a later date, CAFTA were going to help the economy in America and help the American worker????? Do you remember who told us that?? Are you aware that those two things made the death bell ring for manufacturing jobs, and many other jobs as well?? How are we to trust the politicians. I was raised to believe…many years ago. And that is just the PROBLEM ..... their track record and their knowledge. What a hoot! Wait and see what Cap and Trade does for us. It seems to me that the politicians are in a dead heat to go jump off the cliff ...of course they are not actually jumping off the cliff…they are pushing us off of it. Then they are turning around and going down their own road…this is true in many instances. They do not have to be saddled with the things they are forcing on us. This is one of those things that may sound good in the beginning, but tell me what you think about 1 or 2 years from now! Just another way to pick our pockets further. Wonder what they will do when they reach the bottom of the pockets of all Americans? Who will be left to pay the massive debt off then??
I’ll take Boucher’s word backed by years of experience and exceptional track record against you pundits “cut and paste” argument anyday.
Rep Boucher if this bill will not eliminate one single job! Why then is there a provision to extend education benefits and unemployment to those losing their jobs as a result of this bill. I am not sure as to the exact number of months, 36 months? I can only conclude that another Rep did not read the bill but just voted on party lines. This is not representing he people of our district.
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