Waxman Markey Cap and Trade’s Biggest Losers: Chemical Plants and Chemicals
Nicolas Loris /
When it comes to cap and trade, Texas Congressman Gene Green asserted,
I’d like to vote for a bill, but I’m not going to vote for one unless I think it’s going to be good for the area I represent.”
He went on to say his district had “more chemical plants than I can count.”
This is a problem for proponents of cap and trade, because the chemicals industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries in the United States. Since cap and trade artificially drives up the price of energy by taxing the use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels, the news is grim for Congressman Green’s chemical plants.
According to The Heritage Foundation analysis of the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill, over the 2012-2035 timeline, chemical industry job losses average over 25,000. By 2035, a projected 47,800 jobs are lost below the baseline – without a cap and trade bill. There will be 32,000 fewer jobs when the emissions reductions commence in 2012.
Cap and trade isn’t good for Congressman Gene Green’s district – or any Member’s district, for that matter. This is the definition of mutually exclusive.