By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
Before many Michigan residences call it a week and get a start on the holiday weekend, they were treated to some unsettling news.
First, residents in Niles found out that they will face higher utility rates as the state announced it approved the renewable energy and energy optimization plans submitted by state municipality electric utilities in accordance with legislation passed to help curb energy consumption.
According to a report by the state, plan approval for Niles will mean surcharges stemming from renewable energy plans that are not to exceed a $3 cap and a monthly energy optimization surcharge costing average residential customers .54 cents.
Then, as Niles faces the eventual closure of Tyler Refrigeration, national unemployment numbers released Friday showed the country at the highest level of unemployment in 26 years at 9.5 percent.
With news such as this trying to crush the celebratory mood of the upcoming holiday, Michigan congressman Fred Upton discussed the need to get Michigan residents back to work, responded to criticism of the "Cash for Clunkers" legislation he supports and continued to speak out against the cap-and-trade system being proposed in current legislation that he said will increase energy prices.
The Star asked readers to send in questions for Upton's visit to the newsroom. His stand on the cap-and-trade system he calls yet another tax was one of those questions.
"What it does is, there's a cap on major emitters," Upton said, explaining how the cap-and-trade system works.
The system is part of current legislation facing Congress. That cap means that emitters are forced to reduce carbon emissions, or else pay a tax per ton of carbon emitted.
What that essentially means, he said, is "it will be more expensive for the electric company to generate power," leaving those additional costs to be passed on to the consumer.
The cap-and-trade system is part of the proposed American Energy Act.
"There is some redistribution of the tax going to lower income families," Upton said. Companies, he said, would not see redistribution at all – and that means added costs to organizations already struggling to hang on to workers.
And, he added, the system could also mean more costly steel production, more desirable options leading producers overseas to countries like India or China, the latter of which he said is the largest carbon emitter in the world.
"This is a dagger in the heart of midwest business," he said. "When these energy costs go up, as they will … our spending dollar is getting smaller."
And that is a spending dollar Upton and other supporters of the new Cash for Clunkers law are hoping to see consumers spend on energy efficient cars.
Michigan sixth district representative and the co-chair of the Congressional Auto Caucus was quite vocal in his support of the legislation that gives consumers up to $4,500 for old fuel inefficient cars when they turn them in for newer fuel friendly models.
But a recent article in Newsweek criticized the legislation saying it wouldn't help as many people as believed.
The criticism hits on the fact that some cars are worth more on a trade than the $4,500 cap and suggests car owners would be better off selling their vehicles privately.
Upton said that while the offer won't get all of the 'clunkers' off the road, "the purpose of the law is to get people in the showroom,' an effort to aid an economic rebound.
"It will get significant number of really bad cars, with worse emissions … off the road," he said.
The law seems to not be geared toward higher income households, who may own those cars that are actually worth more than they'd be getting through Cash for Clunkers. The question remains whether those whose cars do qualify – could realistically afford a new car.
"The proof will be in the numbers," Upton said. "It's yet another incentive to get the economy going." And, he added, lawmakers are supporting the law "knowing it has worked in 16 countries."
Countries that didn't adopt an almost $800 billion stimulus plan that some say, isn't working.
"It tells you that there should have been more to help businesses hire folks," Upton said.
Hiring folks is something the country isn't doing.
In response to early morning figures of a rise in unemployment across the nation, Upton said, "we have to help businesses get jobs back," and estimated that 100,000 Michigan residents will see their unemployment benefits exhausted in the coming year.
Aside from the cap-and-trade system, the Star also received a question for Upton regarding broadband technology and what Congress can do to help expand access to broadband networks and hi-speed internet in schools, hospitals and businesses, not just in Berrien county, but across the country.
Once chairman of the telecommunications and internet subcommittee, Upton said he pursued legislation that was aimed at deregulating the industry and allowing it to compete with the other providers of similar services.
"I've been a very strong supporter that all our school systems have broadband," he said, adding that the subject was discussed during a question and answer session at Berrien RESA.
"It's exciting to see that technology," that is found in Berrien County schools systems, Upton said, and in public libraries.
"It's because of our work we've been able to see these advances in technology and communication."