American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

AMERICAN CLEAN ENERGY AND SECURITY ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - June 26, 2009)

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Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in opposition to the bill. This legislation is not so much about stopping the import of foreign oil as it is designed to change the way we produce electricity in America.

Today, 52 percent of all electricity produced is produced with coal, and this bill will require the use of permits to burn coal. In my State of Kentucky, the utilities believe--and they have looked at this closely--that in order to comply with this legislation, they will have to spend an additional $500 million.

As we look around the country, we see that only about eight States will really benefit in the sense that their electricity rates will not go up. The problem with this is that as you increase the cost to produce electricity, that makes the United States less competitive in the global marketplace, because when companies decide where they're going to locate and build new plants, they look at cost of production, and one big cost is electricity.

And so those of us who oppose it do so genuinely because we believe that at a time when we are in an economic recession, we should not be jeopardizing more jobs.

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