Dear Friends,

            Gene Malvino is a very unusual person.  He is a retired college professor who actually believes in the free enterprise system, and the values that made America great.  He has continued to work tirelessly to bring out the truth of those issues that are important to us as a nation. 

            The attached letter appeared in the Coeur d’Alene Press on Friday, October 23.  This is the original, unedited version. I trust you will find it instructional.

            Jim Hollingsworth jimhollingsworth@verizon.net

Gene J. Malvino

If the readers of this newspaper believe that the much discussed and debated Obamacare is economic suicide and a costly, rapid route to socialism, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” If readers believe the Office of Management and Budget projections of unsustainable spending and accumulated debt increases throughout the next decade and beyond, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Perhaps obscured and hidden behind the petulance and pettiness that have surrounded the health care debate, , the US Senate will, maybe next month, begin debate on the recent, narrowly-passed, 1427-page, House bill, H.R. 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as Waxman-Markey (or cap-and-trade).

If readers worry about what Congress could do through its health-care legislation, they should be terrified by Waxman-Markey because it would gut the economy, weaken our GDP, cost millions of Americans their jobs (and medical coverage), raise the cost of all energy, especially the cost of electricity, gasoline and diesel fuel. It would affect everyone who uses energy - including trucking and transportation, small business, farming, manufacturing, construction, mining, retailing, local, county, state and federal agencies, forest products (like newsprint), the military, energy production, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat. It would send American jobs overseas to countries with lesser energy costs and who do not limit greenhouse gas emissions – like China and India, thus reducing our global competitiveness and lessening our energy independence.

A number of respected organizations have analyzed Waxman-Markey including the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institute, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the American Farm Bureau, and the Institute for Energy Research, etc. All have concluded, to varying degrees, that Waxman-Markey will drive up the price of energy and taxes for all American consumers and cripple industry.

Americans for Tax Reform has published research data regarding the national effect of Waxman-Markey which concludes that:

Direct energy costs will go up $1500 per year for a typical family of four.

For that same typical family of four, electric bills will be $12,200 higher, gas consumption costs will rise to $7,500, and direct energy cost will rise by $22,500, in total, from 2012 to 2035.

On average, employment will be lower by 1,105,000 jobs per year. In some years, cap-and-trade will reduce employment by nearly 2.5 million jobs.

Waxman-Markey will drive up the national debt 26 per cent by 2035. This represents an additional $29,150 per person, or $116,600 for a family of four.

Workers, companies, and families in Idaho may be wondering how this cap-and-trade legislation would affect their income, their jobs, and the cost of energy. The Heritage Foundation has calculated that implementing Waxman-Markey would put a chokehold on Idaho’s economic potential by, on average, reducing gross state product (GSP) by $1.97 billion, reducing personal income by $475 million, destroying 6,534 jobs, raising electricity prices by $531.92 per household, and raising gasoline prices by $0.66 per gallon over the 2012 -2035 timeframe.

The National Association of Manufacturers (both large and small firms) forecasts a gloomier picture regarding job loss, disposable household income, impact on energy prices, higher electricity prices, lower economic growth, impact on industry, low income families and state budgets. Specifically, Idaho’s 838 schools and universities and 52 hospitals will likely experience an 18.1 % to 27.9% increase in energy expenditures. For government entities, costs for services, including public transportation and vehicle fleets such as school buses, fire and police departments, etc., will rise dramatically under Waxman-Markey.

Waxman-Markey, which will create increased costs, hardships, and severe consequences on Americans, is predicated on pseudo-science (many say, “junk science”) by the manic proponents of this legislation. Without question, this legislation will give our government unprecedented power, control and regulation over everyone’s lives 

As reported numerous times before in the media, tens of thousands of respected and eminent atmospheric scientists, climatologists, meteorologists, physicists, etc. have petitioned the government stating emphatically that “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human (anthropogenic) release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon natural and animal environments of the Earth.”

In fact, global temperatures have been cooling over the last seven decades while CO2 has risen. Increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere follow warming trends. They do not precede them. Carbon dioxide is a variable trace gas (0.035-0.38% by volume of the atmosphere) and by itself will produce little warming. Carbon dioxide affects only winter temperatures while water vapor affects summer temperatures. However, CO2 has been totally uncorrelated with temperature over the last decade and significantly negative since 2002. CO2 is not a pollutant, or a poisonous gas like carbon monoxide, but a naturally occurring gas that together with chlorophyll and sunlight is essential to photosynthesis.

So why, as meteorologist, Dr. Martin Hertzog states, is the New York Times (and other media) “Continuously regurgitating fear-mongering, and the anecdotal clap trap of global warming propagandists (i.e. Al Gore and Barack Obama).

Where is the morality, compassion, and ethics of the Congress and the Obama administration sycophants or supportive “useful idiots” (Lenin), in pushing such costly, destructive legislation like Waxman-Markey?

These questions can best be addressed by asking some questions of our congressmen, senators, and the administration. We might ask:

Why the legislation in the first place? What “empirical” evidence do we have that global warming and “greenhouse gases” are destroying the planet? What “empirical” evidence do we have that Waxman-Markey will ever counter natural climate change and fluctuation? Where is the realism in hoping that major emitters like China, India or other developing nations will ever effectively comply with emissions control schemes? Why the hurry and demand for climate change crisis management? Can we not take some time for accurate cost/benefit analysis? Why, in times of severe economic recession, do we want to pile on more energy and regulation cost and debt? Have you, Congressman or Senator or Mr. President, actually read the 1427 pages of the bill and understand its impact on your constituency? Why sock it to the poor, the unemployed and the disadvantaged who pay a disproportionate amount of their disposable income for energy?

Unfortunately we live in a country where the cynical manipulation of people’s fears and anxieties often override informed public debate. Sound science and economics and principled beliefs seem to have become negotiable commodities, and all too often the search for truth is sacrificed on the altar of “whatever works.”

Silence is no longer an option!


Gene J. Malvino, professor (retired)

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho