Junk Science Equals Junk Mail

I posted my letter to the Illinois Senators last week. I got an immediate auto reply from Roland Burris, and nothing else.

I thought Dick Durbin ignored me, but he didn't. His reply got caught by the junk mail filter, and until I checked it yesterday, I didn't realize he'd sent anything back. I guess Outlook '07 knows that junk science equals junk mail.

Here is the Senator's reply. I basically echo's the presidents sentiment that global warming is a non-debatable thing. It's happening, even if 700 scientists think it's not.

Dear Mr. Beller:

Thank you for contacting me to express your views regarding the creation of a national "cap-and-trade" program to address global warming. I appreciate hearing from you.

As a part of the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, President Obama laid out his proposal for the creation of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming. Specifically, President Obama's proposal would cap greenhouse gas emissions at 14 percent below the 2005 levels by 2020, with a goal of reducing emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by the year 2050.

By tackling the sources of climate change and taking steps now to reduce the impacts of global warming, we can protect our environmental future while expanding our economy. If we choose to ignore global warming and its consequences, we are placing our planet and our future in grave danger and could face large-scale environmental and economic dislocations that threaten our national security.

Although some see it differently, mainstream scientists have accumulated overwhelming evidence that the global warming problem is real and that we can't afford to wait any longer to act. Most scientists believe that increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will raise the earth's temperature by as much as three to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. This temperature change could produce catastrophic changes in our climate.

I am confident that our nation has the ingenuity and technical savvy to achieve meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. A market-based cap-and-trade system can set the ground rules for private competition, to help us achieve the necessary goals as inexpensively as possible. At the same time, we must provide industries with sufficient time to prepare for new standards and ensure that consumers are not subject to sudden cost increases.
Your voice is a valuable part of this discussion. I will keep your concerns in mind as the Senate considers legislation on this matter.
Thank you again for your message. Please feel free to stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

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Letter to the Senators

This is the letter I sent to my two Senators, Dick Durbin and Roland Burris about Cap and Trade.


Dear Senator,

Soon your chamber, like the House of Representatives will try and ram through the Cap and Trade legislation to transform our energy policy.

Like the House will the Senate be voting on 1200 pages of legislation that no member has had time to read?

Will you and Senator Burris have the courage to come home and tell us the truth of the costs of this bill in the Midwest, where coal electricity is the prevalent source?
Will you repeat to them what the President said, that "electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket" under cap and trade? Or will you repeat his claim that this will create thousands of new jobs, even though the European experience with Cap and Trade has been just the opposite?

Will both of you go downstate, and tell the families who earn their livings in the coal mines that the bill is designed to put them out of work?

Will you come to Abbott Labs in North Chicago, or Baxter in Round Lake, and tell the folks there that their jobs will probably move to a facility overseas? Abbott and Baxter use a lot of coal generated steam for their drug processing, under this legislation productions costs will skyrocket.

Will you tell those people that the double whammy of the proposed health care legislation and energy legislation will make it necessary for their jobs to move for their company to survive?

I don't believe you have the political courage to do this sir. Instead, I think what will happen is if it passes you'll have lunch with the limousine liberals on the North Shore, and tout what a great thing you've done for the environment. You’ll ignore what it's going to do to the working men and women in your state and their families, the people your party claims to be the champions for.

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