Say Goodbye to those Green Jobs

The Cap and Trade bill is now in the Senate.  It was already determined by the Congressional Budget Office, while going through the House, that:

The price increases caused by a cap-and-trade program would impose additional costs on households. For example, without incorporating any benefits to households from lessening climate change, CBO estimates that the price increases resulting from a 15 percent cut in CO2 emissions could cost the average household roughly $1,600 (in 2006 dollars), ranging from nearly $700 in additional costs for the average household in the lowest one-fifth (quintile) of all households arrayed by income, to about $2,200 for the average household in the highest quintile.

You can read the full report here: The Distributional Consequences of a
Cap-and-Trade Program for CO2 Emissions

Remember all those green jobs that Obama promised us?  Did you know that the rare metals used in hybrids and wind turbines material we need in order to produce them, comes from China?  And did you know that China is now considering to clampdown on exports of rare earth metals?

We have plenty of oil, but we can’t drill.  We have natural gas from Alaska, but we are not using that.  We have coal, but Obama apparently decided against clean coal technology. And last but not least, with over 30 years of utilization, we have Nuclear energy which has proven to be a reliable alternative to fossil fuels.  But we can’t build more Nuclear plants.

The government insists we go green … so, fine … and what happens when we can’t get the material to produce hybrid cars and wind turbines? Do I need to start raising hamsters so I can put them on the hood of my car to run in a cage, just to keep  my engine going? How about a windmill on top ofthe car, ops … maybe not if we can get the raw material!

Al Gore has made a small fortune on going green, but I think he’s safe because he sells trees to “offset your carbon footprint”, and we still produce trees here in the US!  In the mean time we have  Seattle where new buildings are not required to provide parking so parking has become a premium and quite the problem for tourists.  U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) last month announced that up to 2,550 battery charging systems for electric vehicles will be established throughout the Seattle area by Energy Electric Transportation Engineering Corp. (ETEC), as part of a $99.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.”

It’s almost impossible to park a regular car in Seattle, but does this mean we will have 2,550 new parking places if you have an electric car.  I wonder if there are that many electric cars in the whole state of Washington – or maybe Washington and Oregon combined?  I’m sure that program will stimulate a lot of new jobs.

Today our unemployment rate continued to grow, we are now the highest since 1983 at 9.8%.  If the Senate pushes the Cap and Trade bill through we can be expected to be paying more for our household expenses.  Obama is supposed to be creating all these new “green jobs” but will China have the leverage to force us into the position of having to build solar, wind turbines and maybe even hybrid cars, in China?   Solar panels have a toxic by-product due to manufacturing and the metals used for low speed windings for wind turbines can only come from China due to environmental issues here. China is trying to stop the export of these metals.

How’s all that change working for you?

Below are some sites where you can get more related information:

China Poised to Corner the Market on Solar Cell Production

So, tell me, how are those “green” jobs going to help our unemployment situation when China, not America, is the one who will be hiring to build those solar panels?

China eyes export ban on rare metals used in hybrids and wind turbines

Move follows US and EU allegations that China’s stockpiling of minerals creates unfair advantage

RPT-FACTBOX-Race for rare earth metals shifts away from China

The race to find rare earth metals, used in hybrid cars, laser equipment and a diverse range of other technologies, is shifting to Canada, Brazil and South Africa as Canadian explorers look for sources that would loosen China’s lock on supplies.