American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009: The way forward

The wrangling has just began and I understand that the utility and the energy lobby groups are not going to give up, either here in Washington State or there in Washington DC. There is obviously the need to protect turfs. There is often the need to ensure that when the final Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 is signed into Law, the interest of the stakeholders are protected. For this reason, I welcome a good debate not solely about the passing of the Clean Energy and Security Act, but the process of lobbying about how acts and bills are made by those in government. There is this cynicism that we cannot trust the legislatures and congressmen to do the right thing. There is this doubt about what men and women who debate our laws are willing to do for the constituent they represent in the face of pressure from the lobby groups. I for one believe that our lawmakers are just. That they work hard to make us safe and that issues of clean water, air and energy are as important to them as they are to their lobbyist. Today, I would not buy the notion that industries that create the calluses problem of global warming are asking the rest of us to pay for their mess. I do not believe that these industries do not want to move beyond the current status-quo of polluting the environment, emitting higher levels of green house gases, producing energy at a higher cost to the environment than is acceptable by the health of their family and our families. I do not believe that our lawmakers would rather support position that continues to hold us hostages to foreign oil cartels, warlords, devious aristocrats and poor managers. I do not want to believe that the notion of investing in alternative sources of energy, or energy generation that does not pollute, that create jobs, that keeps the environment safe, is anemically opposing to the goal of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. I will like to believe in good faith that all our lawmakers support our rights to live in a clean environment and offer to our children a better environment than we currently have. I believe our lawmakers will not allow themselves to be bamboozled by the lobbyist groups of the right, who are often not really interested in what works, what is safe, and what offers all Americans opportunity to live a healthier life. I can hear the clarion for a big fight. I can hear their excruciating pain and love to defer responsibility for paying for cleaning up the environment to the tax payers. All I’ll say is this: taxpayers feel your pains, but for now, taxpayers will rather not pay for your mess!