BIOMASS HUB

Cap-and-trade has become the lame duck on Capital Hill and now it goes the way of a dead horse.  Aggressive opposition to GHG regulation has grown steadily in recent weeks, despite being jettisoned early into the jet wash of health care reform.  At this rate, “cap-and-trade” could very well be banned by the FCC any day.

After the Copenhagen and Senate cap-and-trade parties ending before the cake was even cut, lawmakers are now launching attacks on the EPA to prevent the Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.  And now the ripples of GHG opposition are starting to be felt in the state houses as well.

In California, Republican politicians and conservative activists have launched a ballot campaign to suspend California’s landmark AB32 global-warming law, in what they hope will serve as a showcase for a national backlash against climate regulations.  The coalition argues that GHG regulation is a jobs and economy killer and propose to suspend the law until the state’s unemployment rate drops to 5.5%, a level not seen since 2007.