Cap & Trade Trouble & Ironic Law

Cap & Trade Trouble & Ironic Law plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

You’ve probably already heard that President Obama signed a tough new smoking and tobacco law the other day but what you may not have heard is that he is the first president since Franklin Roosevelt to smoke cigarettes while in office. Ironic, yes but according to Obama…

OBAMA: This legislation will not ban all tobacco products and it will allow adults to make their own choices but it will also ban tobacco advertising within 1000 feet of schools and playgrounds. It will curb the ability of tobacco companies to market products to our children by using appealing flavors. It will force these companies to more clearly and publicly acknowledge of the harmful and deadly products that they sell.

According to a new study by the Black Chamber of Commerce, Senator Nancy Pelosi’s National Energy Tax will cost 2.5 million American jobs across every region of the U.S. including some 3.5% decrease in the northwest. The question is becoming with all the jobs lost already, can we afford to lose another 2.5 million? That is a question that many politicians are asking themselves. The issue is split along party lines and a vote could come as early as this Friday.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

The new “kid on the block” in regards to wind turbines is a smaller backyard version very reminiscent in design of an old fashioned windmill called the Wind Dancer. It was created by a father - daughter team to perform in low wind areas and doesn’t need a skyscraper sized tower. The Wind Dancer has a smaller sibling that can be mounted on a roof top and needs only four to five mile an hour winds for energy production. Sounds great, that is until you get to the hefty price tag, which can range anywhere from $15,000 for the rooftop version to nearly $50,000 for the Wind Dancer. For the time being that puts this technology pretty much out of reach for the average consumer.  The majority of us who have a green conscience but not an extremely green pocketbook will have to wait and hope that like with most new technology the price will come down drastically as the newness wears off.  A national renewable energy standard could make renewable wind energy affordable sooner, but until then most of us will just have to wait and see which way the wind blows. 

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.