Perriello backs climate change bill; Goodlatte doesn’t

Two congressmen representing the Lynchburg region took opposite stands Friday on a clean-energy bill, also known as cap-and-trade, that passed the House of Representatives later that evening.

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, held a telephone news conference to say he would vote for the bill because it means a better future for Southside farmers and the nuclear industry.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th District, said on the House floor that he was voting against the bill because it would “raise taxes, kill jobs and lead to more government intrusion.”

Perriello’s news conference included three other speakers. They were a Bassett energy entrepreneur who depends on farmers to grow canola that is turned into diesel fuel for trucks, an advocate for veterans who said the bill strengthens national security by reducing dependence on foreign oil, and a farm association president.

Perriello said the bill, officially called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, would “revitalize our economy by creating millions of new jobs” and “preserve our planet by reducing pollution.”

The bill puts pressure on carbon emitters such as older factories and power plants, and would create a market for farm products that can be used as biofuels and clean energy, Perriello said.

Goodlatte said the new forms of energy haven’t been proven in the marketplace. “Let me be clear, this legislation is not a win for American farmers,” Goodlatte said.

“Agriculture is an energy-intensive industry, and this legislation will make the cost of energy even higher for everyone,” by raising electricity rates and gas prices, Goodlatte said.

Perriello said a study by the Congressional Budget Office showed the bill would cost the average household in the 5th District $12 a month, primarily in electricity rates.

“That cost would disappear if we turn our thermostats up 1 degree in the summer and down 1 degree in the winter,” Perriello said.

He also said the bill would turn farmers and consumers into freedom fighters and change the country’s reliance on military families alone to carry the burden of defending the United States. “Freedom isn’t free,” Perriello said.

In his first six months in Washington, Perriello said he has been amazed to see how strongly the oil industry influences both parties.

“Vulnerable freshmen like me are going to take a political hit” for supporting the cap-and-trade bill, he said, “but we came to do the right thing and let chips fall where they may.”