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Posted on Sun, Oct. 25, 2009 10:15 PM
Pro-Con | Would the pending cap-and-trade legislation help African-Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups?
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Would the pending cap-and-trade legislation help African-Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups?
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YES
Final passage of the American Energy and Security Act this year would provide tens of thousands of new jobs for urban blacks and Hispanics in vibrant new technologies like solar and wind power. “This is not an issue that we can sit on the sidelines and let someone else do the business because there is too much at stake,” observes Frank Stewart, an executive with the American Association of Blacks in Energy and a leading member of the Washington, D.C.-based Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change.
He and other blacks in the energy sector point out the new green energies now spreading across the country not only will create inner-city jobs but lower energy costs — an especially vital consideration for urban residents who now spend an estimated 25 percent more of their income on energy than the national average.
The major windfall will come from well-paying jobs that have the potential to lower big city jobless rates by several percentage points over a fairly short time.
Kathy E. Read, for McClatchy- Tribune News Service
NO
“Cap-and-trade,” an energy tax, is the Obama plan to fight climate change. In a nutshell, he seeks to reduce greenhouse emissions by making fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil more expensive and therefore less desirable.
This costly scheme was approved by the House on a nearly party-line vote.
Taxing fossil fuels might depress their use, but it also would depress the economy. High energy costs would slow economic growth and increase unemployment, already nearing 10 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says black unemployment hit 15.4 percent in September while Hispanic unemployment reached 12.7 percent.
The Black Chamber of Commerce estimates cap-and-trade, if adopted, would kill upwards of 2.7 million jobs every year through 2030, while the liberal Brookings Institution says 1.7 million jobs would be lost annually. The conservative Heritage Foundation estimates 1.1 million would be lost every year from 2012 to 2035, and 2.5 million annually after 2035.
Deneen Borelli, for McClatchy- Tribune News Service
Posted on Sun, Oct. 25, 2009 10:15 PM
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