By Rosemary Edwards
Demand a better solution to control the costs of energy.
Our leaders in Austin are pushing their own attempt to save the world with an aggressive energy plan to get 30 percent of our electricity from renewable energy by 2020. Mayor Lee Leffingwell has already issued an apology for the coming rate hikes needed to fund that plan. That apology will ring hollow when many families are unable to buy groceries or pay the electric bill because of increased taxes.
The costs of energy and the use of our natural resources can be costly to the Earth and to the pocketbooks. Unfortunately our leaders in Washington and in Austin have lost sight of those costs.
First take the current cap-and-trade legislation in Congress which promises to limit emissions and in the words of one senator to save the world. But it wont save jobs. Texas alone stands to lose more than $26 billion in gross state product on average per year from 2012 to 2035.
Personal income earned in Texas on average per year would fall by $9 billion with 94000 jobs lost. Meanwhile energy bills on average would increase $890 per household. For lower- and middle-class families that will be devastating to the family budget.
Second the Austin City Council stands ready to make it even tougher for such families to make ends meet all to possibly reduce the projected rise in temperatures by a fraction of a percent of one degree by 2050?
The local Catholic Diocese has also cried foul over this plan which it estimates will cost Austin residents about 50 percent more in utility payments per month. Msgr. Michael Mulvey made plain in his opinion what common sense thinkers already know: It will be the poor who will bear the highest burden. Diocesan spokeswoman Barbara Budde told a panel of statewide elected officials that many lower-income families spend as much as 75 percent of their income just to keep the lights on.
Austin is renowned for its environmentally friendly policies and green culture. I have no problem with advancing responsible policies to preserve natural resources. I do however have a problem with policies that hurt families and target the poor and those serving the poor.
Austin is a diverse city with a business-friendly climate which has brought small and large businesses to our city from other states across the country. Entrepreneurs have used their ingenuity and ability to produce and provide products which people want and are willing to purchase.
The free market has a long history of finding ways to do the impossible when the impossible is in demand.
A growing market of green products is popular and holds great promise for our future. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power likewise hold great promise. But many costs involved are greater than the cost of standard products and electricity.
Those who are able to pay the additional costs involved will pay it if the cost is worth it. Forcing it on everyone will only increase taxes and drive people and businesses away from Austin.
Elected leaders should always remember that it is people they represent. Protecting the environment is a laudable goal but when officials put the environment above peoples lives and livelihoods it has gone too far.
Tax incentives and business-friendly policies can secure our environmental goals without further burdening our economy and personal budgets.
The federal cap-and-trade legislation sets a target of about 2.5 tons of carbon emissions per person per year by 2050 to combat global warming. Even if this law works surface temperatures would be lowered about one-tenth of one degree Celsius in about 100 years. That one-tenth of one degree comes with a heavy price tag.
The free market and the free will of people have the ideas and choices to do better.
I just hope some on Capitol Hill and in City Hall are listening.
Edwards is chairwoman of the Travis County Republican Party.
