HM 1535

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to reject the American Clean Energy and Security
4	Act and other similar energy proposals.
5
6	WHEREAS, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
7	(H.R. 2454), also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, is pending in
8	Congress, and
9	WHEREAS, there is currently a global economic recession,
10	with unemployment rates in the United States hovering at 10
11	percent, and some estimates place the cost of implementing H.R.
12	2454 as high as $1,500 or more per household per year, and
13	WHEREAS, if those estimates prove correct, H.R. 2454 would
14	represent the single largest tax increase in the history of the
15	United States, and
16	WHEREAS, if fully implemented, the regulatory schemes
17	created under H.R. 2454 are estimated to reduce global
18	temperatures by approximately nine-hundredths of one degree
19	Fahrenheit, and
20	WHEREAS, meaningful global emissions reductions cannot
21	happen without the aggressive participation of India, China, and
22	other developing nations, and
23	WHEREAS, China and India have indicated that they will not
24	participate in mandatory emissions control, and
25	WHEREAS, the passage of H.R. 2454 will result in job losses
26	for the citizens of the United States, and
27	WHEREAS, carbon-producing industries will be more likely to
28	move to countries where the costs to operate will be lower and
29	may ultimately have a negative effect on the environment as many
30	of those nations do not employ the environmental constraints and
31	requirements currently administered in the United States, and
32	WHEREAS, H.R. 2454 establishes a cap-and-trade scheme in
33	which 85 percent of the carbon rations are to be given away to
34	preferred businesses, ensuring higher revenues for the
35	recipients and a rise in energy prices for consumers, and
36	WHEREAS, the costs to consumers in the United States
37	imposed by H.R. 2454 were ignored when an amendment to suspend
38	the program if gas prices reached a disastrous $5 per gallon was
39	defeated, and
40	WHEREAS, the costs to jobs in the United States imposed by
41	H.R. 2454 were ignored when an amendment to suspend the program
42	if unemployment reached 15 percent was also defeated, and
43	WHEREAS, the United States Congress has, for several years,
44	debated and declined to grant the United States Environmental
45	Protection Agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gases,
46	and
47	WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
48	has taken steps to unilaterally circumvent the legislative
49	process to regulate greenhouse gases, citing the Clean Air Act,
50	a document not meant to address the global environment, though
51	it admits such authority under the Act is "absurd" and would
52	stretch the doctrines of "administrative necessity," and
53	WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
54	estimates such unilateral regulation would cost businesses in
55	the United States as much as $55 billion in these tough economic
56	times, not to mention the suffocating costs to businesses and
57	local and state governments associated with additional
58	permitting, regulation, and enforcement, and
59	WHEREAS, the energy resources of the United States provide
60	well-paying jobs and affordable energy for the citizens of the
61	United States and should be bolstered, rather than undermined by
62	transferring jobs and wealth to nations that regard this nation
63	as an enemy, and
64	WHEREAS, the United States must create a diverse energy
65	portfolio that is not only sustainable, but also efficient and
66	reliable, and
67	WHEREAS, the United States should be focusing on improving
68	technologies that will make coal, the nation's most abundant
69	energy source, cleaner, and
70	WHEREAS, nuclear energy is clean, reliable, and safe, using
71	current technology, provides long-term cost savings, and should
72	play a constructive role in any legitimate comprehensive energy
73	plan, and
74	WHEREAS, the United States can protect the environment and
75	use the nation's energy sources, including oil, natural gas,
76	coal, and nuclear power, to create jobs in the United States and
77	increase national security by utilizing those resources and the
78	ingenuity and productivity of its citizens, NOW, THEREFORE,
79
80	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
81
82	That the Congress of the United States is urged to reject
83	the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), also
84	known as the Waxman-Markey bill, and any other energy proposals
85	or overreaching actions by federal agencies that will
86	artificially raise energy prices for consumers and place an
87	undue burden on the economy and the people of the United States
88	for little or no environmental benefit.
89	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
90	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
91	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
92	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
93	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.