01 Jan 2007 Commentary: What People Are Saying About Caterpillar’s Support of Carbon Caps…

What People Are Saying About Caterpillar’s Support of Carbon Caps… What miners are saying: “Caterpillar has joined with some of the most radical environmentalists who have been enemies of mining, including coal, for decades. The stated policy of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership is a 60 to 80 percent reduction in us carbon emissions by 2050. China’s emissions of carbon dioxide are already exceeding those of the United States, and China’s told the world that they are going to do nothing about it…. Jobs will be exported overseas and people on fixed incomes will see their energy costs skyrocket. So the policy of Jim Owens will destroy the American economy for no environmental benefit. As a result of this, I sent him a letter a couple of months ago telling him that Murray Energy Corporation will no longer do business with Caterpillar. This will result in the loss of millions of dollars in business to Caterpillar.” – Robert E. Murray, Chairman, President and CEO, Murray Energy Corporation What seniors are saying: “Many seniors on fixed incomes are already struggling with the high cost of heating and cooling their homes. I’m afraid that what Caterpillar is promoting would only drive those costs higher, perhaps even out of reach for those who most need affordable energy.” – Jim Martin, President, 60 Plus What national leaders are saying: “I am personally disappointed that such an excellent company as Caterpillar has made the fateful decision to turn its back on its shareholders and American consumers. Unfortunately, much of the business community has been deceived into believing that a cap-and-trade regulatory regime will provide certainty. This is a fallacy. Europe’s emissions trading system has engendered significant financial uncertainty, rampant political jockeying by industry seeking regulatory advantage over competitors, and corruption. Yet, Europe’s emissions continue to rise. A similar regulatory regime in the U.S. would lead us down the same path, creating economic hardship with no environmental benefit.” – Hon. Malcolm Wallop, former U.S. Senator and Chairman of Frontiers of Freedom What black leaders are saying: “Cap-and-trade will have a negative economic impact on consumers, especially lower-income households. According to the Congressional Budget Office, ‘most of the cost of meeting a cap on CO2 emissions would be borne by consumers,’ disproportionately harming fixed and lower page 2 income households. What kind of CEO would intentionally cause financial hardship to millions of consumers?” – Deneen Borelli, Fellow, Project 21 What farmers are saying: “Where Caterpillar used to think first about American agriculture, they have now joined with groups that have been consistently opposed to the growing of America’s food, and opposed to the use of Caterpillar machinery. It is difficult to understand why Caterpillar would work with groups who are unfriendly to agriculture when agriculture has been a source of Caterpillar’s success. Joining with the USCAP to establish a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions works against rural agriculture and desperately needed energy sources. That Caterpillar also gave a grant of $12 million to The Nature Conservancy to assist in their purchase of what was once known as ‘the largest farm in Illinois,’ so that it could be turned into a wetland, is also puzzling. This makes Caterpillar appear to be unfriendly to supporting American agriculture and the farmer’s role in supplying food for the world.” – Joyce Morrison, Farmer and Agricultural Environmentalist What the construction industry is saying: “Sooner or later, big business screws the people who literally made them. I have traveled as a guest of Caterpillar to Peoria to see the immensity of their equipment. They can literally move mountains. My son, who owns the business now, has run equipment for sales videos for Caterpillar, free of charge! They may be able to move mountains, but all the greens have to do is threaten a whispering campaign against them and they cave. Greens used to bash heavy equipment in my neighborhood. Bulldozer was a dirty word. But when we had record-breaking floods here, they were melting down my telephone trying to get out of their driveways. They love you when you move heaven and earth the way they want it moved. Caterpillar needs to take a lesson from that! The earthmoving business is a high overhead business as it is. Lots of the smaller companies are on the verge of getting out of it because we’ve almost reached the point of diminishing returns. When you can’t afford to feed the equipment, the equipment has to go. The greens’ arch nemesis, big corporations, can do the earthmoving for subdivisions and strip malls and the rest of us can all get with nature and do it with hatchets and horses.” – James Jarrell, Jarrell’s Excavating, Inc. “Regrettably, our culture’s push towards political correctness has intimidated all too many men and women of science who know better – or should know better – into standing on the sidelines on various issues because they don’t want to suffer the fallout of taking a stand for what is true. Even worse are those who have added their allegiance to causes for which they have no scientific expertise, simply because it is the politically correct thing to do. page 3 This environmental agenda, along with the media’s support of it, wouldn’t be such a problem except for the economic impacts that will result if we take their so-called science seriously. Intimidating companies into restricting their use of fossil fuels, or even the building of devices that depend upon those fuels, will not only impact those companies financially but will also impact the individuals and families that are dependent upon those products.” – David E. McCarthy, PE, Civil Engineer What taxpayer groups are saying: “Carbon caps are really a not-very-hidden tax on the users of energy – all of us. It is wrong to seek to use government as the lever of achieving competitive advantage. It is wrong for companies to sell out their customers in exchange for short term political gain.” – Lew Uhler, Founder and President, National Tax Limitation Committee What foresters are saying: “I think Caterpillar is cutting their nose off to spite their face. They are in the business of selling equipment to industries that will be hurt by carbon caps and I think they ought to rethink their position. Caps and these sorts of policies will cause a lot of harm, but not any real environmental benefit. This is more a cultural agenda than an environmental agenda. The environmentalists are using this issue to hurt the U.S. economically to bring about a cultural change, not so much an environmental change. Their actions are not scientifically based.” – Bruce Griffith, President, Griffith Lumber Co., Inc. “If Caterpillar succumbs to the delusion of cap-and-trade, we’ll buy Nissan and let Caterpillar squabble with other companies over unworkable allocations, just like EU manufacturers. How can Caterpillar support cap-and-trade and threaten to put us out of business with the higher cost of electricity and fuel? And higher wages to offset our employees’ outrageous food costs?” Jane Hogan, Secretary-Treasurer, Ontario Hardwood Co. For more information, contact: David Ridenour or Peyton Knight The National Center for Public Policy Research 501 Capitol Court, NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 543-4110 [email protected] or [email protected]

https://nationalcenter.org/Caterpillar_Commentary.pdf