Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Global Warming Vote Delayed











WBAL is reporting that a vote on the Global Warming Solutions Act has been delayed until Thursday.

The potential for job losses, or higher power bills as consumers pay to upgrade power plants, stopped the bill's progress Wednesday.

"It would not be in the best interest of anybody in Maryland," said Sen. Donald Munson, R-Washington, who said jobs would be lost because factories would not be able to reduce carbon emissions and comply.

Supporters insist the bill has already been changed to protect industry. For example, the bill originally included a carbon cut of 90 percent by 2050 - a cut that would have been the nation's deepest - but that requirement was changed to a goal.

Sponsors went on to argue that job losses or no, the carbon reduction is of paramount importance to Maryland...

After about an hour-long logjam, senators decided to put off debate until Thursday, against Pinsky's wishes. Even several Democrats said they want to make sure the bill won't cost jobs unnecessarily or lead to power blackouts.

One of the bill's sponsors, Democratic Sen. Norman Stone of Baltimore County, even announced he planned to take his name off the bill. Stone's district includes the Sparrows Point steel mill near Baltimore, where workers say the global warming bill could shut the plant down. Several dozen steelworkers watching the Senate debate cheered the decision to delay debate.


Typical of the way environmentalists try to minimize the real consequences at stake, Kim Coble of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said, "Once again, the unfortunate story here is that the opposition has boiled this down to the environment against jobs." How dare they distill the issue down to the real choices before the General Assembly.


As I 've said before the proponents of this bill and the O'Malley administration are trying to have it both ways, and the stark reality of the matter is that they can't. The real choice they face is between protecting jobs and voting for a feel good law that will have no detectable effect on global temperatures. There is just no way around that.

My sources tell me that prospects for a Republican filibuster are not good.

The award for alarmist clown goes to Paul Pinksy who said, "If we don't get this under control by 2050, we all ought to get snorkels."

Snorkels can be sent to
Senator Paul G. Pinsky
11 Bladen Street
220 James Senate Office Building
Annapolis, Maryland 21401-1990

1 comment:

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