Black activist to Obama: Promote job growth by killing cap-and-trade

If the White House jobs summit is more than a publicity stunt, says Deneen Borelli of the Project 21 black leadership network, Obama should abandon efforts to implement a cap-and-trade policy, as it would kill jobs.

"If Obama is sincere about finding ways to fix our country's employment crisis, he should start by putting the brakes on job-killing cap-and-trade legislation," said Deneen Borelli, a Project 21 fellow.

Obama is promoting today's summit as a gathering of experts to "jumpstart" hiring and create new jobs. Unemployment recently rose to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since 1983.

Commenting on Obama's upcoming trip to the COP-15 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this month, Borelli said: "President Obama will propose reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels to 'save the planet.' Tragically, even his own EPA administrator says this proposal would have no meaningful impact on the climate if done unilaterally, as he would. One thing it will do is have a devastating impact on jobs."

Cap-and-trade would limit the amount of emissions industry can release. It seeks to reduce consumption of traditional fossil fuels - such as coal, oil and natural gas - by making them more expensive. Higher costs will ultimately be borne by consumers and workers. As a candidate, Obama admitted that, under such a plan, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

Legislation to implement cap-and-trade in the U.S. passed Congress in June and a similar bill is pending in the Senate. The Heritage Foundation estimates that the House version would cause job losses of about 1.15 million jobs annually between 2012 and 2030 - rising to almost 2.5 million per year by 2035.

An international scandal currently rocking climate change science makes the need for such onerous policy increasingly questionable. Concerns about climate data manipulation, as exposed in recently-posted private e-mails among prominent climate researchers, has heightened the uncertainty about the scientific basis of the theory that mankind is causing severe global warming.

"I think it's irresponsible for Obama to continue to push a destructive energy agenda while there is a growing scandal in the scientific community that turns the underpinnings of cap-and-trade policy on its ear," Borelli noted. "How can the Obama Administration move forward in good faith while so many questions about this potential miscarriage of science remain unresolved?"

"With unemployment at 10.2 percent nationwide and food stamps feeding more than 36 million people, it's common sense to stop imposing new financial burdens on America that would kill jobs and cause more individuals to be enslaved by a reliance on government aid," said Borelli.

David Almasi is the Staff Director at Project 21, a voice of black conservatives since 1992, sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research.