Hill disputes editorial, explains cap/trade vote

It is no secret that the editorial writers of The Tribune and I disagree on the issue of climate change. While I respect such differences of opinion, I cannot allow their false claims about the American Clean Energy and Security Act to go unchecked.

For months, I have worked on the front lines of this legislation as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. I have also read the bill in its entirety, something I would challenge the authors of The Tribune's editorial did not complete. While the original proposal - which most of the bogus claims are based on - was simply not feasible for Indiana, the bill changed significantly and will continue to change as it undergoes work in the Senate.

To that end, I was able to alter the bill and secure the following consumer protection provisions:

-- First, in order to prevent utility rates from spiking during the transition to a clean energy economy, the legislation allocates the majority of emission allowances for regulated entities like utility companies. For example, our rural co-ops will receive enough allocations to cover a majority of their costs and are fully exempt from meeting the renewable energy standard.

-- Second, to protect jobs, manufacturing industries will be compensated for their cost of compliance with these new standards, and countries that do not accept the standards will face trade consequences.

-- Third, the original renewable energy standard was altered to a level at which Indiana can comply while using other, more nontraditional sources, to reach the standard. For example, I secured language in the bill that will allow more waste resources to be converted into and counted as renewable energy.

-- And finally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will now oversee the offset provisions, and farmers are expressly not covered under this program.

This is a job-creation bill. Investing in a clean-energy economy will create millions of homegrown jobs - many in our most embattled industries - that cannot be shipped overseas. For example, research and incentives for Carbon Capture and Storage technology for coal will ensure that Indiana becomes a leader in this field. Notable American businesses agree and are supportive of this bill, such as John Deere, Johnson & Johnson, Duke Energy and Caterpillar Inc.

The other major factor involved in this issue, and which The Tribune entirely failed to mention, is that if Congress does not act, the Environmental Protection Agency will act, with little or no input from outside sources.

An April 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA found that the EPA has the authority to regulate green house gas emissions. And just recently, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson proposed an endangerment finding, beginning the comment process and putting the EPA on a clear path to control this program.

I'm happy to debate the details of this bill, but please stop spreading such falsehoods about it. With legislation of this importance and impact, the partisan rhetoric and outright mistruths must stop. Both are not only counterproductive, but misleading to what should be our end goal of enacting energy legislation that addresses energy independence, creates jobs and combats climate change while protecting Hoosier ratepayers, jumpstarting the economy and taking into account geographic disparities.
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Indiana 9th District Rep. Baron Hill is a Democrat from Seymour.