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Greepeace agreed saying it "sets emission reduction targets far lower than science demands, then undermines even those targets with massive offsets. The giveaways and preferences in the bill will actually spur a new generation of nuclear and coal-fired power plants to the detriment of real energy solutions."
Energy companies praised it, and why not. Big Coal got a waiver until 2025. Agribusiness was exempted altogether even though it contributes up to one-fourth of greenhouse gas emissions. The free allowances provision benefits the nuclear industry hugely. The nation's largest nuclear power company, Exelon, said it would reap a $1 - 1.5 billion annual windfall from subsidies and higher prices.
ACESA is a scam. It's about profits, not environmental remediation. Its emissions reduction targets are so weak, they effectively license polluters by giving them a new profit center to exploit. As for Wall Street, it offers greater than ever derivatives trading profits - a new multi-trillion dollar market to be "securitized, derivatized, and speculated," according to Clinton's former Commerce undersecretary, Robert Shapiro. If cap and trade becomes law, the market will explode in his judgment.
Others agree, seeing a speculative bonanza, why FIRE sector (finance, insurance and real estate) lobbyists spent a record $465 million in 2009 according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Energy and natural resources companies also, spending $409 million to assure a plum this sweet becomes law.
The American Power Act (APC) - Unveiled on May 16 and now available in Pdf form at: http://kerry.senate.gov/americanpoweract/intro.cfm.
It's as hyperbolic as the House version saying:
It "will transform our economy, set us on the path toward energy independence and improve the quality of the air we breathe. It will create millions of good jobs that cannot be shipped abroad and it will launch America into a position of leadership in the global clean energy economy."
It claims not to be about enriching Wall Street, but to reduce carbon pollution by "17 percent in 2020 and by over 80 percent in 2050," so far ahead that who'll remember unmet targets.
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