Vice President Joe Biden, an avid supporter of the cap-and-trade legislation, is now avidly campaigning in Virginia for Creigh Deeds.
It is high time that Mr. Deeds make known whether he shares the vice president's support of this critical bill, disingenuously labeled the "American Clean Energy and Security Act."
Deeds' silence on this legislation is telling, because he surely recognizes that this nasty little bill promises to wreak havoc on Virginia's businesses and consumers alike while threatening thousands of jobs in southwest Virginia.
In the face of the worst recession since the Great Depression, this bill would levy the largest energy tax in history, raising the price of electricity and consumer goods across the board.
It thus threatens hyperinflation, already a concern because of profligate government spending, and will drive overseas what is left of U.S. manufacturing capability.
It is a job killer in a state where even Gov. Kaine has stated that Virginia is too dependent on coal for energy to imagine a near-term future without it.
Even if the legislation succeeded in decreasing overall carbon emissions, that decrease would be more than offset by the economic growth of India and China, which reject international regulation of emissions.
China's emissions already exceed those of the U.S., even though China's economy is substantially smaller.
India and China will not follow America's good example and have said as much.
This bill threatens considerable harm to the U.S. and the Virginia economy while doing little or nothing to mitigate global warming.
Mr. Deeds' opponent, Bob McDonnell, opposes the bill and proposes instead off-shore drilling that could
Anne Campbell Gruner
McLean