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Washington, DC – With only days remaining until the U.S. House of Representatives casts an historic up-or-down vote on one of the largest tax hikes in the history of Congress, Congressman Chris Carney (D-Pa.) has yet to state publicly where he stands on this measure – even as recent estimates suggest Pennsylvania families could be among the hardest hit by it.

Under this proposal, the federal government would mandate the increased use of expensive, unreliable forms of power, which currently represent a mere 2.8 percent of the nation’s overall electricity usage. In total, less efficient renewable electricity accounts for 0.9 percent of Pennsylvania’s power, which would have to increase by 1,624 percent by 2020 to reach this 15 percent mandate.

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Let’s Make a Deal: EPW Chair Acknowledges Principles Tossed Aside Early in Waxman Consideration, All About the Money From Then After

“There’s so much revenue that comes in from a cap-and-trade system that you can really go to a person in a congressional district and get enough votes there by saying, ‘What do you need? What do you want? You can really help them.” U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., June 6, 2009

Washington, DC – Following the release of the June 6, 2009 cover story in National Journal Magazine detailing the ongoing cap-and-trade negotiations in the Senate, American Energy Alliance(AEA) president Thomas J. Pyle issued the following statement in response to Sen. Boxer’s claim that “revenue” from “a cap-and-trade system” was used to “get enough votes” to report Chairman Waxman’s plan out of committee:

“While American families and small businesses continue to confront one of the most difficult economic periods of our time, and nearly 10 percent of the American workforce remains out of a job, Sen. Boxer’s confirmation of Chairman Waxman’s strategy for getting his bill out of committee underscores the extent to which patronage, and not principle, has guided this entire process from the start.

“Suggesting that members of Congress were coaxed into voting for a job-killing energy tax in return for political carve-outs is a new low point, made all the more disappointing if it’s true. The American people deserve commonsense, supply-oriented solutions to the energy and economic challenges they face — not backroom deals, massive new taxes and one-size-fits-all mandates.”

The American Energy Alliance (AEA) is a not-for-profit organization that engages in public policy advocacy and debate surrounding the function, operation, and government regulation of global energy markets. AEA, an affiliate of the Institute for Energy Research, works to educate and mobilize citizens around the idea that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges.

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Clear Majority of Coastal North Easterners Support Environmentally Sound Energy Exploration and Production

While Americans Continue to Call for More American Energy, Out-of-the Mainstream Washington Politicians Say ‘No We Can’t’

Washington, DC – Following the release of a Monmouth University poll that found a clear majority of support for offshore domestic energy exploration and production from coastal residents in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance (AEA), issued this statement:

“While our economy continues to struggle and working-class families and small business owners are being forced to tighten their budgets, out-of-step Washington politicians are working to make American energy less accessible and affordable. In any economy, good or bad, actively working to make energy more expensive is a job killer.

“This poll is just another reminder that the American people understand far better than Washington politicians that more domestic energy will help create well-paying jobs and bring down the cost of energy.”

According to the Associated Press, “the telephone poll questioned 1,006 coastal residents of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia from April 21-28. It has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.”

NOTE: Click HERE to view the results of this poll online. Key finding: “On the question of drilling for oil or gas, 46% of coastal residents now support this – up from 33% in 2007 – compared to 37% who are opposed… .”

According to a economic analysis released earlier this year, offshore energy exploration and production would generate:

• $8 trillion in additional economic output (GDP);
• $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts;
• 1.2 million new, well-paying jobs annually across the country; and
• $70 billion in additional wages each year.

The American Energy Alliance (AEA) is a not-for-profit organization that engages in public policy advocacy and debate surrounding the function, operation, and government regulation of global energy markets. AEA, an affiliate of the Institute for Energy Research, works to educate and mobilize citizens around the idea that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges.

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Washington, DC – While the American people continue to list climate change among the issues they care about the least, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Hollywood), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reported legislation out of his committee today that elevates that issue above all others, even as our economy founders and the benefits of cap-and-trade become less defensible by the day.

Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance (AEA), issued the following statement:

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Beneficiaries to receive 3 years of salary, health insurance, job training, and relocation package as a result of this job-killing measure

Washington, DC – With 946 pages of legislative text, it comes as no surprise that as the days pass by, interesting new provisions buried deep in the Waxman-Markey cap-and-tax bill are revealed. Today we expose section 426.

“While the authors of this bill continue to insist that cap-and-tax will be a clear economic winner, several provisions buried deep in the text confirm their true belief that it will massively stimulate the unemployment rolls,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance.

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BURIED: Scarcely Reported Poll finds that 78% of Americans Oppose Legislation that will Increase Electric Bills

Washington, DC – Nearly six out of 10 Americans would oppose Chairman Henry Waxman’s cap-and-tax scheme if it resulted in their electricity bills going up a single penny, a recent poll found. And nearly eight out of 10 respondents would consider a $50 per month increase in utility bills a “hardship,” even if that figure only represents a fraction of the cost burden that cap-and-tax is expected to inflict on working Americans.

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Only 24 percent of Americans understand cap and tax; Waxman needs to slow down and explain it to the American people

Washington, DC – Recent polling conducted by Rasmussen Reportsand released today found that an overwhelming majority of Americans notonly don’t support cap-and-trade – they don’t even know what it is,even when given three options from which to choose.

Interestingly,the polling data comes out at a time when Energy and Commerce ChairmanHenry Waxman (D-Calif.) is moving at breakneck speed to pass acap-and-tax plan out of his committee, announcing today that he expectsthe markup to begin on Thursday.

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New debate centers on who should get thecarve-outs, who should get stuck with the tab

Washington,DC – After marathon hearings inthe House Energy and Commerce Committee last week debating the largest, mostregressive tax plan ever brought before Congress, Chairman Henry Waxman(D-Calif.), appears to have left many questions unanswered. Chief among them:how he plans to carve up the bill, and to whom he plans to extend the patronageof upfront emission “allowances.”

“Afterweeks of hearings and backroom deal-making, Chairman Waxman has yet to tell theAmerican people what this energy tax will cost, and the adverse impact it willhave on their everyday life,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the AmericanEnergy Alliance (AEA). “The fact that families are already struggling to makeends meet, it is reprehensible for Congress to add yet another tax to a familybudget that’s already stretched past its breaking point.”
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AEA Educational Campaign to Fight Massive Energy Tax, Further Government Induced Job Losses

WASHINGTON – With Congress moving at breakneck pace to pass an energy tax bill that would amount to the largest single tax increase on working families in U.S. history, American Energy Alliance (AEA) today announced the launch of an integrated education and advocacy campaign aimed at helping Americans understand all the facts surrounding “cap-and-trade,” and arming them with the tools they need to hold their elected officials accountable as the debate moves forward in Washington, D.C.

At its core, the campaign will reach out to residents of ten targeted congressional district by taking its message to the radio airwaves, making sure middle-class Americans know that cap-and-trade is actually a massive, intentionally complicated “cap-and-tax” scheme in disguise – one that will potentially cost families more than $3,100 a year in new taxes and higher energy bills.

“Even advocates of cap-and-trade admit the purpose of the plan is to increase the cost of energy,” said AEA president Thomas J. Pyle. “That fact is not in dispute. The real fight in Washington is over how high those costs will go, and what, exactly, we can expect to get from engaging in the unilateral disarmament of our energy and economic future.”

Added Pyle: “Cap-and-trade’s supporters know full well what the answers are, but up until now have done their best to keep them away from the American people – at least until they have rammed their plan through Congress.  AEA wants to ensure that Americans are fully aware of cap-and-trade’s dire consequences: higher energy bills, new taxes, and increased job losses.”

The radio spots are slated to run for two weeks, commencing Wednesday, April 29 in the home districts of Representatives John Barrow (D-Ga.), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), Baron Hill (D-Ind.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah), Charlie Melancon (D-La.), Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), and Betty Sutton (D-Ohio).  For audio and text of the ads, click on the representative’s name.

The American Energy Alliance (AEA) is a not-for-profit organization that engages in public policy advocacy and debate surrounding the function, operation, and government regulation of global energy markets.  AEA, an independent affiliate of the Institute for Energy Research, works to educate and mobilize citizens around the idea that freely-functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges.

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www.americanenergyalliance.org