Republicans Hijack Energy Reform

by: Jon Kantrowitz

Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 08:50:01 AM EDT

Industry representatives immediately started fighting the potential new regulations.

So did industry's paid henchman, the Republican Party. And it looks like they have won the battle:

Well,  when it comes to climate change policy making, the Republican Party can justly claim a major victory for its philosophy. We may have a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, but the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 recently passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is very much a Republican bill characterized by a paucity of sticks and a plethora of carrots... Indeed, the bill specifically prohibits Obama's EPA from regulating these emissions.

The key provisions of the bill look like a Republican victory as well:

The bill's carbon-cap-and-trade provisions are by all reports its heart and soul.  They exemplify a Republican approach: Don't tell polluters what to do,  bribe them and hope they do what you want. Democrats have faked left and gone right.

A petition to delete the CO2 enforcement restriction is here.