Clean Energy Act will create jobs

Agriculture and energy policy are linked, which is why the federal debate about climate change matters so much in rural Missouri. Congressman Ike Skelton voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) because it provides an opportunity for farmers to increase their income while safeguarding their livelihoods and the nation’s food and energy supplies.

Show Me Energy Cooperative in Centerview has developed a biomass fuel from sustainable agricultural residues. We sell this fuel to utility companies, who use it in place of some coal. This reduces pollution from the power plant and provides the farmers in the co-op with a market for agricultural residues as energy crops.

If ACES becomes law, not only will it provide further incentives for utilities to use cleaner resources; it will allow us to include more farmers in our co-op, buy more biomass, deploy new co-ops and employ more people. This is to say nothing of the other rural economic opportunities.

ACES provides the tools to ensure that American farmers can benefit from solutions to our energy crisis.

Thank you to Congressman Skelton for voting to put us on the right path for clean energy and rural economic development.

Steve Flick
President of the Board Show Me Energy Cooperative
Centerview, Mo.

Comments

[JoCo]

Yeah, Kee, if that's your real name,

You can write a letter about 2 escaped home inmates, have it published by the falling Star and then make a sensible comment on your letter. A WIN-WIN for ya.

HINT: This is where you call me a LOSER again.

[Kee]

Somebody call the home and tell them two of their inmates are lose.......and WTF is going on with this column at the Falling Star? This is really, really, lame on their part.

[JoCo]

Jim,

I've checked all day for a new installment. I'd not read gogop in my short time here, but he's an example of...... well, I'll wait some more and let him pick his own term(s).

[Jim]

Perhaps they left these letters up so gogop can back up his ridiculous goofball statements.

[JoCo]

Well, Ms. Cheatum,

I totally fail to see what your experience with MEDICARE has to do with The Clean Energy Act and job creation.

You should probably have had your letter edited out by Star staff or at least have tried to get your subjects straight.

Sounds like just another misguided rant by

........................O LIBERALS
........................O CONSERVATIVES
check one

........................O PRO-LABOR
........................O PRO-BUSINESS
check one

........................O DEMOCRATS
........................O REPUBLICANS
........................O MUGWUMPS
check one

........................O GREEN WEINIES
........................O BLUE MEANIES

OK, I'm done
Check please

[JoCo]

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A JoCo Quick Pick:

KC Star, Thursday, 7/9/09, pg.A-18, Letters:

REFORM HEALTH CARE

I certainly hope that Cathy Ash and Mary Goodwin (7/3 Letters)will read Barbara Shelly's column "Health care Stories Tell Her Changes Are Needed" (7/3 Opinion). It brings to a personal level the need for reform of health care in the U.S. I have no fear of a Medicare-type health care for all. Indeed I hope for it. I have had 5 surgeries in the last 5 years, and with Medicare and my gap insurance, I paid only a pittance-- and received excellent care with no waiting.

Kris Cheatum
Kansas City

Hey, pmcw, THIS can be fun!

[JoCo]

OK,gogop,

I stopped, listened, and SAW?. Paused belittling and saw you say that (sic) "President Hussein can't prove he was born here, and regularly expresses his hatred for America. Congressional dems SanFran and the weinie are just as bad and surrendering with AlQueda, the Hussein bailout, and all the other things will flush us down the tubes."

Is that all or shall I await the next installment? Please go on. The REAL apprehension that you instill in me is the realization that such convincing reason CAN catch fire among the electorate. THAT'S what's "very easy to see".

[JoCo]

WTKC,

Not that I doubted you, but witness here in River City the personification of the placards you saw on TV the other day.

[JoCo]

And "speaking to power": If you fear the power of the new American presidency in this millenium, research the GW Bush use of signing statements, a legitimate executive branch action, to shift the balance of power away from the legislative and toward the executive. Constitutional experts of all persuasion cited 3/4 of the Bush signing statements as constitutionally troubling. By contrast, the same experts found less than 1/5 of Clinton's troublesome. For better or worse, just as Bush inherited certain advantages from Clinton, Obama has assumed a presidency freshly replete with enhanced possibilities, with the executorial boundaries pushed outward by GWB. Speak, if you will, to that new presidential power.

[JoCo]

And PLEASE goGOP, don't quote me radical Republican talking points as an example of the dastardly Democrats. Give me something I can use. I'm not as knowledeable as many on this or any issue, but I'm trying to judge and learn on merits, and relation of the present to the past, not on fear or ridicule.

[JoCo]

I would say you are the master of belittlement. What is marxist/nazI? Where may I research that system, say, based on historical or even philosophical precedent? I am a GREAT listener to reason, but you have quite obviously abandoned any you may have had. Learn some tolerance if you EVER expect to be taken seriously by anyone outside your own choir.

As far as shooting the messenger, if I were so inclined, a squirt gun would better fit your all-wet message.

Obama and his Party aren't the perfection you are evidently used to. But the tripe you spew, though worth a listen to expand my awareness of blind radicalism, is hardly the way back nor has it EVER suceeded in leading the way there.

[gogop]

It's very easy tto see that the Democrat Party is the Marxist/Nazy party bent on ruining America. If you stop belittling those who are speaking that truth to power and listen, you would see that. I for one am not amused by our great country being led by a man named Hussein who wasn't born here (at least cant prove it) and doesn't love our country (he expresses his hatred for it on a regular basis). The Democrat party in congress, led by San Fran Nan the weenie reid are just as bad. The Hussein bailout, huge tax increases, surrendering with Al qaida and all the other things they are doing will flush this great country down the tubes. don't shoot the messenger, believe the message!!

[JoCo]

gogop,

Did you miss the thread next door? Or author it?

[JoCo]

Gogop,

Did you get that term "marxist/nazi" from A. Bunker?

I can just about hear it. "Meathead, you marxist/nazi!"

OK, now that we've settled on marxist, cite examples of Marxism that are newly peculiar to our system via this bill.

It's important we know. For our VERY survival.

[JoCo]

The letters in the paper are fresh. We can either enter them and comment, wait til tomorrow and maybe get doubletime or keep on hashing out these.

An editor may sleep til the alarm comes on, but commenters' work is NEVER done!

[gogop]

Hussein and the Democrat Party will ruin our country with this marxist/nazi bill and they know it. This bill will kill industry and cost average americans another $3,100 a year just to start. these marxists need to be defeated by any means necessary for our great country to survive!

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

Apparently all of these coal haters do not have the slightest understanding of the robust upgrades to AQCS that have been ongoing nor the level of good paying jobs these projects have created. The enviro hacks are just not objective nor are they up to sniff on CCT.
Biomass produces pollution, don't be fooled and what is the cost per kwh delivered?Driving by a wind farm in rural IA the other day, it was stagnant (not turning) so how much electricty do you think was being captured? What these morons and dipstock lawyers in Washington fail to tell you is that these AQCS capture nearly all of the CO2 and SO2. If you have never been in a conrtol room of a power plant, then you probably are clueless to the impressive technology.

[Kee]

Yep yesterday's letters....

[solomon]

....someone must have thought they hit the snooze button.......

[pmcw]

"Copied and pasted"

Yes, but I'm the original author so I can do that and will continue to do that as long as the thinking is pertinent. I'm also the author of the piece on Social Security I frequently link.

[whispering_to_kc]

I'm glad "Cap and Trade" will create jobs. Most of us will need a second job to handle the higher taxes built into the legislation.

I see your "special interest support of the bill" and raise you an "API pdf against it" ...

http://www.api.org/Newsroom/upload/Letter_to_Congress_6_23_09.pdf

Farmer's livelihoods are going to take a serious whackage from the $5 diesel used to harvest and haul all that biomass out of the field.

In the end, the only winners will be Wall Street. The paper traders are the only ones who'll win. They always do. Your only chance to participate is to put all your savings into GS and enjoy a rich retirement.

[Kate]

Look, I'm as guilty as the next person of rambling, but JeezaPete, get your own blog.

[JoCo]

Copied and pasted

[pmcw]

The second greatest economic power held by government is to tax; the greatest is to selectively un-tax. With this seemingly innocuous power, Congress elicits favors from all those who are willing to pay the tab. To radically expand this power is the central goal of Cap and Trade legislation.

For months my friends and most of the pundits I follow thought there was so little chance of Cap and Trade legislation passing, they ignored the issue and, at best, humored me when I pointed to it as the greatest economic threat facing the U.S. economy today. However, with it now apparent there is real threat of this legislation passing the House; thinking people are beginning to take notice. Unfortunately, it may be too late.

Because Congress is not encumbered by truth in advertising laws, the Cap and Trade bill, which even some Democrats call "Cap and Tax," has been named the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" or, as we'll call it here, "ACESA." This title accompanies two House Resolutions, H.R. 2454 and H.R. 2998. When writing your Senators, I suggest referencing the full title (American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) and both of the bill numbers noted above. This is a point in time when being abundantly clear is of the utmost importance.

The important thing to understand about ACESA is that it is not at all designed to do what its name suggests; as a matter of fact, when viewed on a global basis, it may have just the opposite effect; there are strong arguments to be made supporting the contention that ACESA would cause higher global CO2 emissions and significantly detract from our national security even beyond the nearly unbeatable fact it would be ruinous for our economy.

There are many easy, painless and even economically positive ways we can encourage reduced CO2 emissions and stimulate the development of new technologies that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which is what is implied by the "security" part of the title. However, this bill will not accomplish these goals. What this bill will accomplish is a mechanism for massive corruption, the strengthening of the power of congressional incumbency, the establishment of a full employment act for lawyers and the debasement of the aggregate U.S. economy. Yes, those are bold words, but I can back them up.

If this bill passes, Congress will have the power to decide who gets to release CO2, how much they will get to release, how much they will have to pay if they want to release more than the congressional dictated allocation and who they must pay. Because nearly everything we do from raising cattle to growing crops to powering our electric grid to manufacturing everything we eat, wear and use emits CO2, the implication is Congress will have absolute control over not just our economy as a whole, but also in naming the winners and losers.

Make no mistake; what our Congress is trying to do is give itself the ultimate and nearly infinite power to selectively un-tax without the annoying encumbrances or inconveniences of due process. Congress knows that if it is successful in this ruse, it will have industry cowering at its feet to beg for just one more bowl of CO2 credits and, with that, all the campaign contributions and perks you would expect to change hands when favors are denominated in tens or, in some cases, hundreds of billions of dollars.

When you write your Senators, which is something you can easily do today through the House web site, www.senate.gov, you should ask for two things. First, that they sign an affidavit stating they have read and understand the contents of both H.R. 2454 and H.R. 2998 and, second, to not only vote against both bills, but also mount a campaign to influence others to vote against them as well.

The bottom line here is that there is nothing that threatens our economy, our freedom, our class mobility and our security more than what is being deceitfully presented as the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009." The power it will grant Congress is absolute and its wording is so duplicitous that it will clog our courts for years, which will do nothing more than redirect what money is left in our economy to lawyers. We need legislation designed to give us more scientists, engineers and doctors, not more lawyers and avenues to corrupt our political process more than it already is.