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Home Front: Politix
Pelosi will profit from Obama-Waxman-Markety cap-and-trade energy bill
2009-06-27
Image courtesy CalebHowe.
Though not as much as The $100 Million Dollar Man - Al Gore.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to bring the Obama-Waxman-Markey (OWM) anti-global warming cap-and-trade energy bill to the floor for a final vote Friday, which raises an interesting question: How much money will Pelosi make if the measure becomes law, as seems quite likely?

Pelosi, of course, is not the only member of Congress to own significant shares of energy companies. Senators and representatives from all over the country do, not just the "oilies" from energy states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

But as House Speaker, Pelosi's ownership of an unknown number of shares in the Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) valued at between $15,000 and $50,000, may deserve particular attention.

Shares of CLNE have gone up and down in value in recent years, thanks to the fluctuations in the price of natural gas and changes in the oil industry worldwide. And a Pelosi spokesman told The Washington Examiner last year that her husband takes care of their stock portfolio, so she has no knowledge of how any of her family investments will be affected by any particular piece of legislation before Congress.

Another prominent public figure with an interest in OWM is CLNE's major domo, T. Boone Pickens, best known of late as a wind-energy investor and the man behind the largest-ever single donation to a state university, $165 million to Oklahoma State University for its athletic programs three years ago. CLNE is a cog in Pickens massive plan to create a giant wind farm in West Texas to generate electricity.

Pelosi will profit because OWM will boost the price of natural gas on the market. This is because natural gas burns with significantly less carbon emissions than other fossil fuels. For companies trying to get under OWM limits for greenhouse gases emissions, burning more natural gas instead of, say coal, will be a no-brainer. That will drive up demand for natural gas, which in turn will create upward price pressures.
Posted by:ed

#15  Well, if they seat Senator Franken, all bets are off, 60 D.
Posted by: OldSpook   2009-06-27 22:30  

#14  sounds like a mission, B
Posted by: Frank G   2009-06-27 20:58  

#13  If we don't get it right in 2010 Frank, the magnificent experiment is over. We're finished as a republic.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-06-27 20:33  

#12  2010 approaches. Let them stand and be counted. When the unemployment hits every home, let the Dem party rot into oblivion
Posted by: Frank G   2009-06-27 20:31  

#11  The question isn't whether the Repubs could block passage if it came to a vote - they can't - but whether they can hold 40 votes to support a filibuster. In my opinion that would be close. There are some who would vote against the bill but not for a filibuster - both Ds & Rs.
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-06-27 19:54  

#10  I wish I could be as certain - the Senate is a convention of posturing morons, liars, thieves, and whores
Posted by: Frank G   2009-06-27 17:44  

#9  Senator Imhofe (R, Oklahoma) is convinced the bill will not pass in the Senate.

Passing President Obama’s “cap and trade” energy program would cost the average Oklahoma family $3,200 a year, Sen. Jim Inhofe said Friday, but he’s confident the measure will be killed in the Senate no matter what happens in the House of Representatives.

At the time of the interview Friday morning, he said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was only two votes short of winning and predicted that if she brought the question up for a vote, it would indicate she had found them. Late Friday, the bill was approved in the House on a 219-212 vote.

“It doesn’t matter,” he declared flatly, “because we’ll kill it in the Senate anyway.”

Asked if he was confident that would be the case, Oklahoma’s senior senator said he was “absolutely certain.” He noted that it would take 60 votes to break an anticipated Republican filibuster over cap and trade and predicted the most the Democrats can muster is about 34.

He said all the hubbub in the House was over Pelosi’s desire to attend a conference in Copenhagen and be able to stand up and say, “Oh, we’ve passed this out of the House and we’re going to lead the way in America but it’s not going to pass the Senate.”

He scoffed at Democratic claims that “cap and trade” doesn’t represent a tax increase at all but instead is a free enterprise solution. “MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the Wharton School of Economics came out with an analysis of what this is. They said that the range is between $330 and $350 billion a year. That translates in Oklahoma to $3,200 per family. Everyone who’s reading this story right now, that would be a tax increase of over $3,000 per family. I can give you all the documentation on that.”
Posted by: trailing wife   2009-06-27 16:33  

#8  If it doesn't pass in the Senate, it doesn't matter what happened in the House.
The Wall Street Journal has a roundup on the subject:

But it isn't clear how much of the sprawling House bill will survive in the Senate, where moderate Democrats and Republicans could form a majority that backs less ambitious action. Among the potential problem areas: the House bill has a provision that would impose tariffs on goods imported from countries that don't match U.S. carbon dioxide restrictions -- a slap at China and India that some business interests fear could provoke a trade war.

Mr. Obama and House leaders struggled to win over a large group of rank-and-file Democrats who expressed doubts about the climate bill. The president lobbied hard personally and through top aides to secure votes from wavering members over the past several days. But in the end, 44 Democrats defected, joining 168 Republicans in opposition. Eight Republicans crossed party lines to support the bill.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the bill would have a modest impact on family budgets. The CBO projected an annual economy-wide cost in 2020 of $22 billion, or about $175 per household. The CBO's study didn't consider the broader effect of the legislation on employment or gross domestic product.

Republicans argued that the CBO's estimate lowballs the actual cost of the bill for families. They contended the measure amounted to a job-killing tax on consumers and businesses.
Posted by: trailing wife   2009-06-27 15:01  

#7  I don't think this bill has 60 votes in the Senate. I hope not.
Posted by: Steve White   2009-06-27 14:14  

#6  The rep traitors and the rural heartland Dems sold the country out for 20 pieces of silver. It's biblical, and it's Chicago politics on a nationwide scale. And all the MSM talks about is the Michael Jackson vaporlock.

We are going to need an act of God to save us from ourselves.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2009-06-27 13:21  

#5  I'm shorting like mad Monday. Ought to be a huge down day in the stock market, especially the energy sector.
Posted by: OldSpook   2009-06-27 10:31  

#4  My God. We are in free fall.
Posted by: NCMike   2009-06-27 09:56  

#3  Barry knew the Cap & Traitors were in the bag. He knew them by name, district, and payoff, hence his and Pelosi's confidence last week. Nice of them to vote as the market was closing and the 90 day mourning period for child-fondler Jackson was just beginning.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-06-27 07:19  

#2  And its 9 traitorous Repukes that crossed the aisle to vote FOR this POS that gave Pelosi-Waxman the margin of victory for this bill.

The GOP leadership had better strip them ALL of any seniority and choice committee assignments. Actions like this must have consequences.
Posted by: OldSpook   2009-06-27 05:26  

#1  so corrupt. Soo corrupt.

You know congressrat, people are keeping files on all this that you do.
Posted by: newc   2009-06-27 00:24  

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