by E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow Greg Walcher
As Appearing in The Daily Sentinel

I have a friend who is always very forthcoming with opinions on almost any subject, although when talking politics he often ends with, “It doesn’t really affect me one way or the other.” We all feel that way sometimes, because our political system can be completely paralyzed by excruciating details of the most inconsequential issues.

Sometimes, though, national issues affect all of us in ways we may not yet recognize. Consider the endless conflict about energy policy. For some, the debate is about climate change, fossil fuels, and renewables. For others, it is about jobs, businesses, and dependent communities. But for nearly everybody, whether we realize it or not, it actually hits much closer to home. It affects our monthly bills.

In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama made no secret of wanting to kill the coal industry, with an elaborate scheme for reducing emissions. He freely admitted that, “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

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