Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Congress' war against working West Virginians



Democrat John Dingell, Queen Nancy's chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, unveiled a proposal that would devastate our state's economy in the name of global warming.

What exactly does he propose?

An additional 50 cents per gallon tax on gasoline and jet fuel, phased in over 5 years. As a rural state with an already disproportionately high gas tax, our working men and women are more likely to DRIVE to work as our JOBS are spread too thin along rural/suburban areas to use carpooling and we do not have the population to support mass transit. In the private sector, a large portion of our jobs are in the coal mines, natural gas wells, and forests. It is impractical for a lumberjack to telecommute from his kitchen table at a laptop in his pajamas; I don't think you can mine coal in your home office, either.

A $50 a ton tax on CO2 admissions, from burning coal, petroleum or natural gas.
I don't think I need to tell you what mining jobs mean to West Virginia. If you can't understand this, you are beyond help.

Gradual phase-out of the interest tax deduction on mortgages for homes over 3,000 sq.ft., including an entire elimination for homes of at least 4,200 sq.ft. This too, would disproportionately affect West Virginia. Obviously, we want more people to build and move in bigger homes to support our timber, steel, construction, limestone, and utility industries. Just how small can a 4,200 single story home be? (64 x 64, or a 32 x 32 two story home) I don't think this affects just the "wealthy".

Any of these the three proposals would devastate West Virginia's resource industries. All three proposals becoming law would be unthinkable.

Even by his own admission, if Dingell's proposal became law, misery would follow…

"This is going to cause pain," he said, adding that he wants to make certain "the pain is shared in a way that is fair, proper, acceptable and accomplishes the basic purpose" of reducing greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

Simply put, the Democrats do not want coal burned to produce electricity, and they do not want more natural gas heating your home. They do not want more our coal used to make steel in the Northern Panhandle, and they do not want our natural gas used in what remains of the already devastated chemical industries in Kanawha and Ohio River valleys.

West Virginia cannot escape the bottom of the heap economically if the Washington Democrats are victorious in their war against coal, timber, and natural gas. Apparently Democrat leaders are not about unleashing capitalism, they are unleashing ON capitalism.

If Byrd, Rockefeller, Manchin, Rahall, Mollohan, and Chairman Casey cannot rebuke their national party leaders over THIS insanity...

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