Climate Bills and a Green Economy

The CLEAR Act: They are Stealing It All -- Land, Water, Minerals and the Air We Breath

August 5, 2010

The PPJ Gazette - Another assault on the American public is under way; this one will enlarge and increase the power of the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management to such a degree that none of us will be safe from these corrupted and unlawful corporate federal agencies operating under the public deception -- “a public service agency.” These are in fact, duly authorized and chartered private corporations which have long since ceased to function as public services, if in fact they ever did.

Those who ramble through the halls of the District of Criminals -- who claim they have no time to write the bills, no time to read the bills -- somehow found the time to vote to pass, through the House, this federal, land, asset and natural resource grab, including water rights. The bill now rests in the Senate, where there is little chance that the property rights of individuals or states will survive.

HR.3534, Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010, will effectively render a greater amount of land as owned or controlled for profit by the federal government, along with minerals and water rights, to now be controlled by the federal government and enforced through the BLM.

The Clear Act claims control of the oceans, Great Lakes and, by extension, many other waterways and freshwater resources, mineral mining, solar, geo-thermal, and gas and oil conducted on land or in the oceans, in, on or near the continental United States. This bill passed the House on August 4, 2010. All of this as a result of the BP Oil gusher; like we didn’t already have thousands of unused laws on the books to deal with this.

Along with expanded control of land and water, all mineral leasing in any state would now be controlled by the BLM, depriving the states of much needed revenue and the right to conduct their own business. And guess what!? We get the creation of more corporate federal agencies empowered to write their own laws and to conduct enforcement in the name of the new agencies, and against the individuals and states.

Sect: 101 Creation of New Department of the Interior Agencies

“The Bureau of Energy and Resource Management;” to be housed in the ubiquitous Department of the Interior.

Now bear in mind, the “resources” the bill alludes to exist within the geographical boundaries of the states, or exist on the coastal waterlines, and rightfully belong to the states and their residents.

(I smell Jim Oberstar’s (D) MN, great stinking mess called the Clean Water Restoration Act, which would seize all water from any source whatsoever, including dried up lake beds and the rain off your roof, and claim it as owned by the federal government.)

Yup! That’s what we need, another damn federal agency, incorporated and working against the people. The truly sad part of this is, there are far too many mercenary Americans who will happily ignore what they know to be violations of individual and states rights, and who will perform these assaults against other Americans, with vigor. These people need to be shunned from our communities.

The CLEAR Act would establish a monthly auction in which fuel producers would bid for “carbon shares.”

And this is how you pass Cap & Trade without calling it Cap & Trade. Even our recent research into the invasive species of Kiri trees slated to be planted across northern Nevada revealed the added caveat of claimed “carbon credits.”

The Cap & Trade Act would do nothing to curb pollution and instead would simply allow polluters to buy access to increase pollution. It’s a cash cow and one that will adversely affect every household in the country. Higher energy costs that would be totally unregulated would force many families out of their homes; there would be no “credits” for individuals -- just for corporations! And thanks to the CLEAR act, we now have a back door “Cap & Trade.”

Carbon credits issued to corporations could be traded and sold to other polluters, creating a cash flow for the sellers of credit and extended pollution credits to those companies who cause the greatest harm to the environment. There would be no reduction in the level of harmful emissions. It is far cheaper to buy unused credits from another company than to go through the process of paying fines and penalties or actually reducing the amount of emissions.

Every U.S. citizen would receive a monthly check from the government. A household family of four would receive a rebate from the government totaling an average of $1,100 per year or $21,000 between 2012 and 2030.

Nothing like throwing in some cash incentives to get the American public to go along with this theft of states rights and the overwhelming control of land, ocean and waterways to be performed under new bureaucracies whose main functions would be to abrogate individual and states rights. And just so you know: If you cash the check…..you have agreed to the contract stipulated in the CLEAR Act: the right of the federal government to seize your states assets and sell them for profit even if it causes you harm.

Included in this latest theft of state-owned assets, and of assets as owned by the nation at large, are these special provisions:

Section 4. Fossil Carbon Limitation

This bill also includes a safety valve for carbon share demand. If the maximum price is reached in any one auction, the number of available carbon shares may be increased to exceed the aggregate quantity in order to ensure that all legal bids at that price are accommodated for that auction. However, these excess carbon shares must be redeemed within 90 days, and all derived revenues from this safety valve auction are deposited in the Clean Energy Reinvestment Trust Fund (CERT Fund) to be used exclusively to curtail the emission of non-carbon greenhouse gases and other climate-affecting substances, such as black carbon, or to fund domestic and international projects to reduce, avoid or sequester emissions through agriculture, forestry, and land use practices (emphasis mine).

Here is where the “cow fart tax” will most likely be implemented.

The bulk of the CLEAR act is simply the creation of new bureaucracies and seizing of states assets and natural resources. The bill simply lays the framework for the enlargement of the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Land Management and, not surprisingly, the Coast Guard*.

With the federal government now claiming it “owns” or controls 64% of all lands west of the Mississippi -- in direct violation of the Constitution, which prohibits the central government from owning property other than forts, bases, and other necessary structures within the sovereign states -- this latest bill is just one more reason to declare the House and Senate a threat to the life and viability of the nation.

History has shown us that allowing the federal government to usurp states in the management of their natural resources has produced massive environmental damage. The eleven westernmost states are riddled with more than 550,000 abandoned mines which have resulted in sink holes appearing spontaneously across these states. The holes fill with groundwater that is polluted beyond reclamation with mercury, sulfur, selenium and other toxins at levels so incredibly high, the water cannot be used, ever. And this is just one aspect of this environmental damage that goes on daily under the direction of the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management. The only thing this department and agency are managing is the theft of resources belonging to the people and the transfer of profits, at any cost, to the government.

The CLEAR Act is nothing more than a system of taxation, fines, fees, penalties and royalties perpetrated by theft of land, water and natural resources from the states. More on this bill as we get into other sections.

*As of 2003, and citing the 1944 provisions, the Coast Guard ceased to be a civil service agency and is now a military branch and is designated by Homeland Security as the “national police” force and empowered to perform police functions not only on the water, but also on land.

Note http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/14C1.txt

Cantwell-Collins CLEAR Act Only Bipartisan Climate Bill Under Consideration

June 29, 2010

Press Release of Senator Cantwell - Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Senate colleagues in a White House meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss a way forward on comprehensive energy and climate legislation. Cantwell and Collins are cosponsors of the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act, the only clean energy and climate legislation under consideration in the Senate with bipartisan support. Their bill, introduced last December, is a cap-and-dividend proposal that would reduce global warming pollution, spur job growth in clean energy technology, and return money directly to consumers.

Under discussion at the meeting was the urgency of enacting energy and climate legislation this year in light of the pressing need and profound benefits of shifting to a clean-energy economy – urgency underscored by the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The President told the Senators he believes the best way to transition to a clean energy economy is a bill that puts a price on pollution, making clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America’s businesses.

“The CLEAR Act should be the basis for any comprehensive energy proposal because it is bipartisan, makes polluters pay, and protects all low and middle income families in each and every state,” said Cantwell. “The CLEAR Act ensures that the free market, not government or special interests, is empowered to find the least cost ways to transition to a clean energy future. I know that every Senator believes we need to act on energy, I am confident that the CLEAR Act’s principles of simplicity, transparency, and equity will appeal to key swing Senators and their constituents.”

“To achieve success in the Senate, clean energy legislation must be bipartisan,” said Senator Collins. “Our bill positions the U.S. to be a leader in renewable energy and energy conservation technologies by placing predictable, straight-forward prices on carbon. It also helps protect consumers by returning 75 percent of revenues directly to American families and preventing speculation in the carbon market.”

At the end of the meeting, the President said that there was a strong foundation, with a consensus on some key policies and the President urged the Senators to come together based on that foundation. Additionally, there was some agreement on the sense of urgency to move forward with the legislation.

After the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement saying,

“Our resolve to act on energy legislation this summer remains strong. We understand that the cost of inaction is high – the continuing disaster on the Gulf Coast is the latest glaring evidence that our current energy strategy is unsustainable.”

The Cantwell-Collins 39-page bill, S.2877, is a simple, transparent way to gradually shift our nation away from fossil fuels by:

• Establishing a predictable price on the carbon embedded in fossil fuels, providing the business incentive needed to develop and deploy clean energy technology


• Requiring fossil fuel producers and importers to bid at auction for “carbon shares”, or permits, for every ton of fossil carbon sold into the U.S. economy


• Regulates where it is most manageable – ‘upstream’ where it is produced by a few thousand entities, as opposed to downstream where it is emitted by tens of thousands


• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 (over 2005 levels), and


• Provides fairness to consumers through monthly dividends which makes all low and middle income families whole.

CLEAR would set up a mechanism for selling “carbon shares” to fuel producers and would return 75 percent of the resulting revenue in checks to every American. This dividend would more than compensate for the increase in carbon-based fuel that producers would pass on to consumers. A typical family of four would receive tax-free monthly checks from the government averaging $1,100 per year, or $21,000 between 2012 and 2030. The remaining 25 percent would be invested in clean energy research and development.

U.S. Senate May Scrap Cap and Trade in Exchange for Cap and Dividend

February 27, 2010

The Energy Collective - I may have spoke too soon the other day. It seems that a few Republicans in the Senate are not only on board with Cap and Trade but could be willing to support a Cap and Dividend model as the centerpiece of the climate change legislation that the House of Representatives passed last year. I've been a fan of Cap and Dividend since I read about the concept in a few publications and blogs.

The key difference between Cap and Dividend and Cap and Trade is that the revenues that are raised through the auctioning of permits, which would allow businesses to emit a certain level of greenhouse gases, would be paid out in the form of dividends to American citizens, whereas in a Cap and Trade system the revenues go to the Federal Government, where they are supposed to be used to fund renewable energy projects. The problem, as we have seen with many of these types of government programs, is that legislators seems to always find away to use the money for something other than its intended purpose (in Allegheny County you have Dan Onorato trying to use tax revenues intended for public transit or air quality improvements to build roads).

When it comes to Cap and Trade or Carbon Taxes, many Americans have a legitimate concern (and for once, Republicans have a valid argument against Democratic legislation) that utilities would pass on any increased costs in the form of a new tax or fee on their utility bills. The utilities are almost guaranteed to pass these costs on to us, which is why a Cap and Dividend is the way to go. The dividends that are paid out to citizens would in essence offset any taxes or rate hikes on our utility bills. A bonus of the Cap and Dividend is that it acts as an incentive to consumers to reduce their electricity consumption, since a lower utility bill would mean they would have more of the dividend to keep for themselves.

This past December Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) unveiled the CLEAR (Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal) Act. Which, at only 39 pages, is much simpler and clear cut than the Waxman-Markley climate bill that was passed last summer.

CLEAR is a “100-75-25-0” policy:

• 100% of the permits to bring fossil carbon into the U.S. economy will be auctioned from day one – there are no permit giveaways.


• 75% of the auction revenue is returned directly to the public as equal per person dividends.


• 25% of the auction revenue is devoted to investments in energy efficiency, clean energy, adaptation to climate change, and assistance for sectors hurt by the transition from the fossil-fueled economy.


• Zero offsets are allowed: polluters cannot avoid curbing use of fossil fuels by paying someone else to ostensibly clean up after them.

What's not to like about that?

Cap and Dividend: A State-By-State Analysis