Charlie Sykes: Sykes Writes

WEDNESDAY HOT READ: STICKING IT TO WISCONSIN

By Charlie Sykes

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Why would Congresswoman Gwen Moore vote for Cap and Trade? Steve Kagen? Tammy Baldwin? Ron Kind? David Obey? (All of whom already have.) Herb Kohl?

This story documents how badly Wisconsin would be hammered by the bill...

A new U.S. EPA analysis requested by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) is spawning a lobbying frenzy among Midwestern utilities that claim the document shows they will be treated unfairly under federal climate legislation.

They say the assessment (pdf) reveals that states like California will receive a financial windfall under a global warming bill, while states like Wisconsin will not get enough help and will have to spike electricity rates as a result.

“The EPA document just confirms the formula will disadvantage Midwest states for decades to come while the coastal states will hit a ‘federal jackpot’ every year over the life of the new program,” said Zachary Hill, senior manager of federal government affairs at Alliant Energy, a Wisconsin-based utility....

The EPA analysis shows some interesting variations in the burden of carbon compliance, based on the legislative language in Waxman-Markey.  How many million tons do each state emit at the moment, and what will they be allowed to emit by 2012?  Let’s start with a few notable coastal states:

Get the picture?  The EPA predicts that Waxman-Markey will force the interior states to buy excess credits from those states, mainly on the coasts, that will have so many emissions credits that they can sell them to bolster their state governments.