The Cap & Trade legislation, cleverly referred to as the Climate Control bill, has recently passed the House of Representatives by a slim seven vote margin. The fact that the Democrats, who command such a large margin in the House, needed seven Republicans to get this through should be a signal that this is bad legislation and nothing more than the largest tax increase to the American public in history. It will prolong this recession and result in the loss of millions of jobs in the petroleum and petroleum-related industries and massive increases in the cost of energy.

All of this is predicated on a deception that has been perpetrated on the America public about the role of greenhouse gas (CO2) on the world's climate. I'm old enough to remember a similar deception under a similar type of Administration in the 70's (Jimmy Carter's), at that time the planet was cooling and fossil fuels were the likely culprit and we all would freeze to death unless we developed alternative energy sources. Also, we were running out of oil reserves and government needed to intervene with massive taxpayer subsidies for other uneconomic forms of energy because we couldn't leave it to the markets. Now, 35 years later, we're running out of time, the planet is now getting hotter, people are to blame, and we are doomed if we don't stop using fossil fuels.

Well, over the past 40 years we have consumed more oil than the reserves we had in 1970 and the proven oil reserves have nearly doubled from that period. The 30 year cooling trend ended in the late 70's and has been replaced by a 20-year warming trend that peaked in 1998 and is now actually declining, regardless of what Al Gore says. The average global temperature has increased by about one degree per century since the end of the Little Ice Age 250 years ago and CO2 levels have increased by a mere 100 parts per million (ppm). It is a trace gas comprising just 4 out of every 10,000 molecules in the atmosphere. Without CO2 in the atmosphere there would be no life on this planet! The sun and water vapor are by far the biggest drivers of our climate and if CO2 is now called a "pollutant", then we ought to call water vapor a "pollutant" also. Obviously, this conclusion is preposterous but unfortunately most people believe it because the media and celebrities say it is so.

If we do the math we also come to the conclusion that this legislation is not credible. Mr. Obama's goal is "80 by 50" - an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. Worldwide demand for energy is predicted to grow by 30-50% over the next 20 years and fossil fuels will supply about 85% of that demand, no matter what President Obama does. In fact, taken together, wind and solar power account for just one-sixth of 1% of U.S. energy usage; even though we have pumped in roughly $20 billion in taxpayer subsidies in the past 30 years. President Obama proposes to double wind and solar consumption by the end of his first term. It actually doubled over the last 3 years of the Bush Administration and if he doubles it again, it will grow from one-sixth of 1% to one-third of 1% of the total energy usage. That assumes the U.S. consumption is flat over the period which is not likely, therefore, it will probably grow less than that.

Thus, President Obama has set an unrealistic goal; one that will cost consumers $2 trillion or more over the next decade and who knows how much by 2050 and will never be achieved. Just think, he is asking the American people to reduce their carbon footprint from about 20 tons per person per year, to about 2 tons per person per year in 2050. The last time our footprint was that low John Smith was courting Pocahontas!