This week, the House Energy Committee will begin mark-up of the Waxman-Markey energy proposal with over $600 billion dollars in additional, new taxes that every American family will have to pay.

ATR urges you to click the banner above to send a letter to your Representative to tell them to oppose this bill.

What does the Waxman-Markey Bill propose?

  • The Markey-Waxman “Cap-and-trade” program imposes a tax on producers’ carbon emissions that will have devastating economic effects.
    • The Heritage Center for Data Analysis projected that in 2016 the Cap-and-trade program will cost the loss of 200,000 to 900,000 American jobs.
    • ATR strongly opposes Cap-and-Trade because it is the largest tax increase since the proposal of income tax and will cost the average American household an extra $1,600 annually.
  • The Markey-Waxman Federal Renewable Electricity Standard is a mandate requiring electric providers to derive a certain amount of their production from renewable resources.
    • From 2012- 2015, the annual percentage of renewable resources providers must use will be 6% to 8.5%; 2016- 2020: 11% to 17.5%; 2021- 2024: 17.5% to 23%; 2025 to 2039: 25%.
    • The high costs this mandate inflicts on providers will be passed onto their customers, drastically raising energy prices
  • The bill’s mandated increase of Corporate Average Fuel economy (CAFE) for vehicles increases costs and diminishing consumer choices.
    • CAFE forces automakers to produce smaller and lighter cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), estimated that these lighter cars will increase American traffic fatalities by almost 40,000.
    • ATR strongly opposes this standard because it will cost both lives and money. CAFE will cost American drivers more than $6.71 billion between 2010 and 2011.

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