July 14, 2012:

SOUTH ROXANA - The Republican nominee for Illinois' 12th Congressional District used an oil refinery for a backdrop Friday as he denounced what he called his opponent's unwillingness to stand up against cap-and-trade legislation. Jason Plummer is seeking the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, who is retiring at the end of his current term. Brad Harriman won the Democratic primary for the seat in March, then dropped out of the race for health reasons. Last month, Democratic Party officials chose Bill Enyart as their nominee; Enyart, who formerly served in the U.S. Air Force, resigned from his job as adjutant general of Illinois, in which he commanded the state's Army and Air National Guards, to run for Congress.

Plummer held a news conference Friday outside the south gates of the Wood River Refinery, operated by Phillips 66, and was joined by U.S. Reps. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, and Steve Scalise, R-La. "Southern Illinoisans know how catastrophic cap-and-trade would be for the region," Plummer said. "How can (Enyart) claim to be serious about creating jobs when he will not take a stand against legislation that would shut down more coal mines and cost Southern Illinoisans thousands of jobs?" Cap-and-trade is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. Essentially, the government sets a limit, or cap, on the amount of a pollutant, such as carbon, that may be emitted by an oil refinery or other industrial plant. The caps are allocated or sold to firms in the form of emissions permits that represent the right to emit or discharge a specific volume of the specified pollutant. Firms are required to hold a number of permits, or carbon credits, equivalent to their emissions. Firms that need to increase their emissions then must buy carbon credits from those who require fewer of the credits.

Last week, Enyart said he "hasn't researched the economics" of cap-and-trade legislation when asked where he stood on putting a price on carbon emissions. Plummer said his opponent was "out of touch," like many in Washington, D.C. He said that instead of embracing the wealth of energy resources Illinois has - coal, oil and gas - bureaucrats from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others have attacked regulations and decimated the workforce, keeping the economy addicted to foreign oil. "I'm going to Washington to roll back the EPA and its needless regulations that kill jobs and increase our dependency," Plummer said.

He said cap-and-trade legislation punishes the workforce. He said the economy wasn't struggling because of the lack of natural resources, but rather poor public policies. "Public policy is targeting people like our coal miners and our oil and natural gas workers," he said. Plummer said he was looking forward to working with Shimkus and Scalise, both of whom serve on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and Energy and Power Subcommittee. Shimkus is chairman of the subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. Both congressmen said regulations would continue to cost Americans quality jobs. "We defeated cap-and-trade in Congress once already, yet Obama EPA is regulating greenhouse gases," Shimkus said. "We need more voices, like Jason's, saying no to EPA and yes to North American energy resources."

Scalise said long-term energy plans need to be developed to utilize the natural resources that America is blessed with and get Americans back to work. "Cap-and-trade is just a slick word for a carbon tax," Shimkus said. "A carbon tax means you're taxing fossil fuel use." Shimkus said cap-and-trade legislation calls for more jobs being shipped overseas. Scalise said Illinois' problems are similar to those he has faced in Louisiana with refineries, and he wants to see it stopped. He said the EPA continues to move forward with policies that are making it very hard for manufacturers and refineries to operate in the United States. Plummer said it's shameful to see such high unemployment throughout Southern Illinois with all its natural resources. He said U.S. resources of oil and coal would lessen the dependence on foreign resources.

While Plummer said he approves of "all-the-above" energy resources, such as wind and solar, as well as nuclear power, he believes a comprehensive energy strategy should include coal, domestic oil and natural gas to accomplish energy independence.

By The Telegraph