ASSIGNMENT: WAXMAN-MARKEY

Many years ago in school, I recall several occasions where I did not read or fully read my assignment for English class (please accept my apologies Mrs. Engelhardt). At the time I had what I felt to be a number of reasonable explanations for my lack of preparedness. One of my most common excuses was that I was not given enough time to review the assignment handed down by my teacher. Looking back at those years, I now realize that the problem was…(GASP)…ME! I admit, I had a number of other priorities in my life at the time that I felt far outweighed the importance of getting through a chapter of Romeo & Juliet or Crime & Punishment as assigned by my English teacher. But the next day, when called upon in class, I still remember the pit in my stomach as I struggled to come up with an intelligent thought that applied in any way to the book that the rest of the class had read.

As I have watched the events of the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation unfold in recent months, I have been taken back to those years in school when I was “unprepared”. As I watched the news reports tell the story of the climate change bill vote on June 26th, I couldn’t help but wonder how many US Congressmen found themselves to have that same pit in their stomach that I had in English class.

Had they read their assignment, all 1,400 pages of it? I seriously doubt it, considering in this case that a good chunk of their assignment came in the form of an amendment handed out hours before their vote was requested.

Had any of these Congressmen gone for “extra credit” and listened to their constituents concerns for affordability and reliability of electricity? I can assume that many didn’t. In spite of this lack of preparedness, 219 of our Congressmen voted in favor of the bill, even though they hadn’t done their homework. Thankfully our Congressmen in Nebraska went into this vote with an understanding of the outcome for their constituents and voted “NO”.

Now, it is time for a new “class”, our US Senate, to step up and study this bill. Will there be any star pupils in this class that will actually read the bill? Today I have done some reading and may have found that person that every teacher longs for in his or her class, and that is Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who is a ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

This Senator has stated that he ACTUALLY INTENDS TO STUDY the climate change bill, and not only that, has vowed to report on every single page of the damaging provisions that are outlined within. He provided a report to the Senate on July 27th, which he summarized by saying that “at the end of the nearly 1,400 pages of taxes and mandates, we see the stark reality of this bill: it sends pink slips to workers and then promises the unemployed that they will get assistance from the government”. Given this undesirable outcome, let’s hope that the rest of our US Senate makes it to the end of their “reading assignment”.

There is another group of students that needs to do their homework on Waxman-Markey, and that is all electric consumers, which includes you! I mentioned above that our elected officials can go for “extra credit” by listening to their constituents, and that is where you come in.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Talk to our Senators, Mike Johanns and Ben Nelson. Let them know that you value affordable electricity, and that you are concerned about any further blows to our economy by further job losses. Log on today to http://www.southernpd.com/ and talk to them through the Our Energy, Our Future campaign.

LeAnne Doose,
Communications Director, Southern Power District