Earth Equity News

Is Cap-and-Trade Dems' Next 'BTU'? By Lisa Lerer, Politico, July 13, 2009. "As Democrats congratulated themselves on the House floor last month for passing a controversial climate and energy bill, Republicans let out a cheer of their own, chanting, 'BTU! BTU! BTU!' The acronym was chilling for some Democrats who remember the infamous 1993 BTU tax debacle that quickly became a code phrase for forcing members to cast a vote that amounts to political suicide. A slim majority of House Democrats nervously backed the Clinton administration's calls for a tax on the heat content of fuel, which became known as the BTU tax, only to watch it die in the Senate under intense opposition from the manufacturing, coal and transportation industries. Republicans jumped on the vote as a campaign issue in 1994 and used it to help them take over the House for the first time in 40 years. Now, some House Democrats are nervously watching their Senate colleagues, hoping they aren't stuck defending another controversial energy vote that ultimately is rendered an unnecessary risk by the upper chamber... The controversy centers on a portion of the House legislation that creates a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Critics of the system argue that it will drive up electricity bills for consumers and, thus, is tantamount to an energy tax."