Richard Morrison

Your host Richard Morrison welcomes globalwarming.org editor William Yeatman to the program for Episode 61 of the LibertyWeek podcast. Tune into the segment that starts around 7:00 and continues to 12:15, where we discuss the U.S. Treasury Department documents that reveal the true cost of cap-and-trade legislation.

Your host Richard Morrison welcomes returning guest co-host William Yeatman and special guest commenter Ryan Radia to the program for Episode 61 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We start with the FCC’s just-announced proposal for “net neutrality,” Treasury documents that reveal the true cost of cap-and-trade legislation and the plan for getting over California’s great depression. We then move on to the G20 Summit’s potential path to prosperity and the ever-expanding scandal that is ACORN.

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CEI and the Pacific Research Institute recently co-hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on “California’s Meltdown” – the unprecedented combination of flawed economic, energy and environmental policies that have left the state with a massive budget deficit and facing even tougher times ahead.

Our keynote speaker was Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), a first term member of the House of Representatives but a 22-year veteran of the California state legislature. He was introduced by Cooler Heads Coalition chairman and CEI Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell:

After his speech Rep. McClintock took several questions from the audience:

The event continued with a panel discussion moderated by CEI President Fred L. Smith, Jr. and featuring commentary by Tom Tanton of the Pacific Research Institute, Jason Peltier of the Westlands Water District and Anthony Randazzo of the Reason Foundation:

Fred and the panel also took questions afterward:

Word has it that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade/energy tax bill is finally hitting the floor of the House, probably this Friday. CEI is decidedly in the “anti” camp. To that end, we released a statement this morning by Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on the legislation and its potential impacts:

Waxman-Markey is a 1,201-page economic suicide note. Those Members of the House who vote for it are voting for long-term economic decline and for turning the United States into a second-rate economy.

Take that, Henry and Ed! But there’s more. Yesterday The Hill published an op-ed on cap and trade by Bob Murray, CEO of Murray Energy and a member of CEI’s advisory council:

Perhaps the most destructive legislation in our country’s history will soon be voted on in the House — the Waxman-Markey tax bill in the guise of addressing climate change. It will have dire consequences for every American. It will raise the cost of energy with little or no environmental benefit. Independent experts estimate that it will cost Americans more than $2 trillion in just over eight years.

CEI and the Cooler Heads Coalition were also mentioned in a story on the Waxman-Markey bill (”Lobbying Frenzy Begins as House Climate Bill Heads for Floor”) by Greenwire reporter Darren Samuelsohn which was republished online by the New York Times:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to bring a major climate and energy measure to the floor Friday has prompted a whirlwind of lobbying.

[…]

Opponents are also readying themselves for the floor battle, with the Cooler Heads Coalition, an ad hoc group of scientific skeptics and legislative critics, planning a special meeting today to organize for the vote. “It’s gonna be fun,” Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote in an e-mail announcing the meeting.

That’s CEI for you – we’re merry warriors for freedom. More links and background info below.

6/23/09 –Did the CBO Underestimate the Cost of the Waxman-Markey Energy Tax? by William Yeatman

6/9/09 – Behind the Cap and Trade Curtain by Max Schulz (Manhattan Institute)

6/1/09 – Corporate Welfare on a Vast Scale: Obama’s Cap-and-Trade Scam Threatens Economy by Hans Bader

5/7/09 – CEI Sponsors Anti-Climate Tax Pledge by William Yeatman

5/5/09 – Chris Horner on the White House Energy Summit [TV interview]

4/23/09 – CEI Expert Warns Aginst Central Planning in Testimony Against Cap and Trade, by Kevin Mooney

4/22/09 – Testimony Before the Committee on Energy and Commerce by Myron Ebell

4/6/09 – Myron Ebell on Cap and Trade [TV interview]

3/24/09 – $2 Trillion Tax from Obama: Hidden Costs of “Cap-and-Trade” Scheme by Hans Bader