CS/HM 1535

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	the bipartisan rejection of any energy or climate
4	legislation or other regulations which place an undue
5	burden on the United States economy and its citizens.
6
7	WHEREAS, there is currently a global economic recession,
8	with unemployment rates in the United States hovering at 10
9	percent, and
10	WHEREAS, estimates have placed the cost of previously
11	forwarded energy proposals as high as $1,500 or more per
12	household per year, and
13	WHEREAS, if those estimates prove correct, legislation that
14	includes cap and trade could represent the single largest tax
15	increase in the history of the United States, and
16	WHEREAS, even if implemented, such plans would reduce
17	global temperatures by only a fraction of one degree, and
18	WHEREAS, meaningful global emissions reductions cannot
19	happen without the aggressive participation of India, China, and
20	other developing nations, and
21	WHEREAS, China and India have indicated that they will not
22	participate in mandatory emissions control, and
23	WHEREAS, the passage of draconian energy legislation will
24	result in job losses for the citizens of the United States, and
25	WHEREAS, carbon-producing industries will be more likely to
26	move to countries where the costs to operate will be lower and
27	may ultimately have a negative effect on the environment as many
28	of those nations do not employ the environmental constraints and
29	requirements currently administered in the United States, and
30	WHEREAS, the United States Congress has, for several years,
31	debated and declined to grant the United States Environmental
32	Protection Agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gases,
33	and
34	WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
35	has taken steps to unilaterally circumvent the legislative
36	process to regulate greenhouse gases, citing the Clean Air Act,
37	a document not meant to address the global environment, though
38	it admits such authority stretches the doctrines of
39	"administrative necessity," and
40	WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
41	estimates such unilateral regulation would cost businesses in
42	the United States billions of dollars in these tough economic
43	times, not to mention the suffocating costs to businesses and
44	local and state governments associated with additional
45	permitting, regulation, and enforcement, and
46	WHEREAS, the energy sources of the United States provide
47	well-paying jobs and affordable energy for the citizens of the
48	United States and should be bolstered, rather than undermined by
49	transferring jobs and wealth to nations that regard this nation
50	as an enemy, and
51	WHEREAS, we must create a diverse energy portfolio that is
52	not only sustainable, but it also efficient and reliable, and
53	WHEREAS, the United States should be focusing on improving
54	technologies that will make coal, the nation's most abundant
55	energy source, cleaner, and
56	WHEREAS, nuclear energy is clean, reliable, and safe, using
57	current technology, provides long-term cost savings, and should
58	play a constructive role in any legitimate comprehensive energy
59	plan, and
60	WHEREAS, the United States can protect the environment and
61	use the nation's energy sources, including oil, natural gas,
62	coal, and nuclear power, to create jobs in the United States and
63	increase national security by utilizing those resources and the
64	ingenuity and productivity of its citizens, NOW, THEREFORE,
65
66	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
67
68	That the Congress of the United States is urged to reject
69	cap and trade legislation, overreaching actions by federal
70	agencies relating to energy or the climate, or any other energy
71	or climate proposals that will artificially raise energy prices
72	for consumers and place an undue burden on the economy and the
73	citizens of the United States for little or no environmental
74	benefit.
75	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
76	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
77	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
78	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
79	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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