I received the following letter from congressman Jason Chaffetz from Utah. The phrases in bold italics below are my highlights.

July 10, 2009

Dear Mr. Richman,

I did not support the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, more commonly referred to as the "cap and trade" bill. Unfortunately, this bill passed the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009. The stated objectives of this bill are to create clean energy jobs, reduce global warming pollution, achieve energy independence, and transition to a clean energy economy.

For average Americans, the impacts of this bill will be dramatic. According to Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the average American can expect "persistently higher prices for.electricity and gasoline." This will be especially evident in Utah, where each person is estimated to be hit with $1,115.47 in new taxes on their electricity bill alone. That means the average Utah family's (3.08 people/household) annual electricity bill will increase by $3,435.65. That's nearly $290 per month on top of what they already pay for electricity. I do not believe this colossal tax increase on the American people is worth nine-hundredths of 1 degree.

The authors of this legislation cite global warming as the driving force behind the bill. I do not believe human activity drives the earth's warming and cooling cycles. The doomsday warming scenarios stem from a 2001 study performed by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In this study, 245 potential scenarios were offered. The media and politicians all over the world have adopted the worst-case scenario as fact and have in turn imposed panic-stricken fears amongst Americans and the entire world.

Emma Brindal of Friends of the Earth said in December 2007, "A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources." This is similar to Senator Ben Cardin's (D-MD) explanation of cap-and-trade, "[cap and trade is] the most significant revenue-generating proposal of our time." Cap and tax is nothing more than a massive expansion of government that will punish business, expand entitlement programs, and raise taxes for 100% of American energy users. Leave it to the Congress to offer a non-solution to a problem that does not even exist.

Unfortunately, the democratically controlled House of Representative fast-tracked cap and tax through the legislative process and ignored all other viable alternatives. Instead of a massive top-down government mandate on to the economy, I support the American Energy and Innovation Act. This bill stands on three pillars: Innovation, Conservation, and Production. I support this bill and encourage you to learn more. These three pillars will:

• Promote innovation within the energy market through entrepreneurship while reducing financial, regulatory, and legal burdens.
• Provide incentives to reduce demand and increase domestic energy security by promoting greater conservation and efficiency.
• Encourage the production of more American energy from all available resources and technologies (expanding both onshore and offshore oil/natural gas drilling and encouraging the use and development of alternative energy sources)

To learn more about the American Energy Innovation Act, please visit my website at http://chaffetz.house.gov/.

Sincerely, Jason Chaffetz
Member of Congress