The Political Bridge

From the Rural Blog: Is the Cap and Trade Energy Legislation Dead?

 Now after President Obama's call for climate legislation in the State of the Union address, lawmakers are discussing proposals that would reduce carbon emissions, but not include a cap-and-trade system for emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases, Richard Cowan and Timothy Gradner of Reuters report. "It's open to how you price carbon," Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry told the reporters. "People need to relax and look at all the ways you might price carbon. We're not pinned down to one approach."

A Video from Congress.org: How Does Cap and Trade Work? A Video from

2010 Kentucky Senate Update: Conway(D-KY) Admits Investing Up To $4.98 Million in Texas Energy Company in Spring of ‘09

NEWS RELEASE

November 19, 2009 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kim Geveden
(502) 682-2010
[email protected]

Annette Lee
(502) 498-4008x230
[email protected]

 

Conway Stands to Make Huge Profits At The Expense of Kentucky’s Coal Industry & Consumers

Conway Stonewalls Answering Why He Invested Over 90% of His Assets in Kinder-Morgan Which Will Profit from Cap and Trade

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FRANKFORT – The campaign for Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Jack Conway admitted for the first time on Tuesday that in the Spring of 2009, on the eve of his Senate announcement, Conway invested up to $4.98 million in Kinder-Morgan Energy, a Texas energy company that is the largest distributor of natural gas in North America with 37,000 miles of pipelines.

Kinder-Morgan executives have been outspoken in their call for replacing coal with natural gas.  Kinder-Morgan CEO Richard Kinder wrote an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle, saying investing in clean coal technology would be “wasting enormous sums of money.”

Conway’s investment in Kinder-Morgan came at the same time Congress is trying to pass ‘Cap & Trade’ legislation. According to Natural Gas Week, if a ‘Cap & Trade’ bill passes Congress, use of natural gas will increase significantly while use of coal will go down.

“How does Jack Conway justify investing millions in a Texas energy company that advocates replacing Kentucky coal with natural gas, a company in which Conway stands to profit at the expense of Kentucky’s coal industry, the thousands of Kentuckians it employs, and Kentucky consumers and small businesses who would have to pay higher electric rates?  For Jack Conway to profit at the financial expense of Kentucky families is nothing less than outrageous,”  said Kim Geveden, Mongiardo campaign spokesman.

According to Geveden, Conway is stonewalling answering the following questions:

• How much does Conway have invested in Kinder-Morgan Energy?
• From where or from whom did Conway get the  millions to invest in Kinder-Morgan?
• What is the specific date  Jack Conway invested in Kinder-Morgan?  Was it in the days surrounding the launch of his campaign and establishment of his $5 million “margin” account at Hilliard Lyons?
• What is Conway’s relationship with Sara Morgan who contributed the double maximum – $4,800 – to his campaign on September 30, or her husband, Richard V. Morgan, the co-founder of Kinder-Morgan Energy?

“If ‘Cap & Trade’ passes, which Jack Conway previously supported, he stands to make a huge personal profit at the expense of Kentucky coal and Kentucky families who will have to pay significantly higher electric rates. Kentucky’s economy and families cannot afford Jack Conway,” said Geveden

 

Bluegrass Politics.Com, KY: Mongiardo (D-KY) claims that Conway(D-KY) Invested between $1 million and $5 million in Texas Energy

Conway reported in August with the U.S. Senate clerk that he had invested between $1 million and $5 million in Kinder-Morgan Energy in 2008, Mongiardo’s campaign (spokesperson Kim Geveden said)

 Geveden also repeated earlier comments that Conway needs to explain why he has more than 90 percent of his wealth invested in a Texas energy company that advocates using natural gas to replace Kentucky coal.

 Conway has countered by saying he would never do anything to hurt Kentucky coal.

To Read More; Click Texas Energy

The Dr. Dan Mongiardo(D-KY) Campaign for U.S. Senate Questions Conway's(D-KY) Millions in Investments to a Texas Energy Co.

NEWS RELEASE    

November 12, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kim Geveden, (502) 682-2010
[email protected] 

Annette Lee, (502) 498-4008 x230
[email protected]

Conway To Profit If Cap and Trade Passes, While KY Families Lose Jobs and Pay Higher Electric Bills

FRANKFORT---As reported in Monday’s Courier-Journal, according to his Senate personal financial disclosure statement, U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway has over the past year bought $1 million -$5 million worth of stock in Kinder-Morgan Energy LP, a Texas energy company that favors developing natural gas over developing clean Kentucky coal.

Not only is over 90% of Conway’s reported financial assets invested in Kinder-Morgan, but according to Conway’s 3^rd quarter FEC report, Sara Morgan, the wife of co-founder William V. Morgan, has contributed $4800 (the maximum allowed by law) to Conway’s campaign.

Kinder-Morgan is one of the largest natural gas transporters in North America.  It controls over 37,000 miles of pipelines to transport natural gas throughout the United States and Canada.  According to a Houston Chronicle op-ed in July,  Richard Kinder, CEO of Kinder-Morgan, said that, “natural gas and nuclear are the only answers for the next 10 to 20 years,” to address climate change, while developing clean coal technology will waste “enormous sums of money.”  

 “Jack Conway has serious questions to answer to Kentucky voters. Why over the past year has he bought millions of stock shares in a Texas energy company that favors natural gas over developing clean Kentucky coal? Why is the co-founder's spouse of this Texas company personally supporting Jack Conway? Kentucky voters deserve to know why Conway has put more than 90% of his wealth into one stock, a Texas energy company that advocates using natural gas to replace Kentucky coal – potentially destroying not only tens of thousands of jobs but causing electric rates and energy costs to soar for every Kentuckian.” said Kim Geveden, Mongiardo spokesperson.

According to Natural Gas Week natural gas prices will go up as natural gas is substituted for coal under cap and trade legislation.  As reported over the summer by the Courier-Journal and the Kentucky Enquirer, Jack Conway said he supports cap and trade legislation.

“No matter what Jack Conway says now on cap and trade, his investments tell the real story. If cap and trade passes, natural gas use will go up while coal use will go down. As a result, Jack Conway will make huge profits on his Kinder-Morgan stock holdings, while Kentucky families lose their jobs and pay higher electric bills.  Kentucky families simply can’t afford Jack Conway," said Geveden.

Geveden  noted, “For more than 10 years leading up to the Senate run, Conway’s investment  portfolio was widely diversified. The fact that Conway suddenly goes ‘all in’ and invests 91% of his entire financial holdings in one stock ($1 million to $5 million) raises questions. Conway’s actions turn the conventional wisdom of stock investing on its head – diversify, diversify, diversify. 

 Why did Conway all of the sudden invest 91% of his financial assets into Kinder-Morgan, a company that favors developing natural gas over Kentucky coal?” asked Geveden.

NY Times: A "Cap and Trade Energy Bill" is Unlikely to Be Enacted During this Session of Congress

Congress is unlikely, this year or next, to establish the “cap and trade” system for curbing carbon emissions that Mr. Obama and party leaders seek. Nor are world leaders at a climate conference in Copenhagen next month likely to strike a concrete deal to limit emissions in the name of curbing global warming.

The Democrats’ challenge, then, is to make enough progress to avoid defeat in the near term and achieve their priorities in the long term.  

Read More: Click Cap and Trade

Investigative Reporting Workshop Finds Overseas Firms Collecting the Most on U.S. Govt Funds for Green Energy

Read more: Foreign Windfall

Pew Research Center: Majority of Americans Have Not Heard about the Cap-and-Trade Energy Plan

  
To Read More Click Pew

Fact Checking the House Cap-and-Trade Energy Bill: Jobs Will Be Lost

From Fact Check.Com

According to projections by the Energy Information Administration and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the net effect of the House cap-and-trade bill will likely be to slow future job growth. Using 11 different possible future scenarios, EIA projects that future job growth might be constrained by something between 388,000 (under the most optimistic assumptions) and 2.3 million (assuming everything goes badly) 20 years from now. CBO also says employment would likely be lower than it would without the legislation – but only "a little."

To Read More Click Fack Check