FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –July 9, 2008
Contact: Dallas Woodhouse  919-671-1050 Annie Patnaude, (202) 441-5193 or annie@afphq.org

Six-Story Hot Air Balloon Stops in Raleigh and Chapel Hill to Rally Citizens Against Global Warming “Hot Air”

Cross-Country Tour Aims to Expose Stealth Tax on Energy

RALEIGH– The free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today brought its nationwide hot air balloon to North Carolina to draw attention to climate change policies that would hike energy costs. Even as record gas prices and high food costs put a squeeze on household budgets, lawmakers are pushing global warming policies that are out of touch with average Americans, the group says.

“Elected officials at all levels of government are converting global warming alarmism into policies that will have devastating consequences for our economy,” said AFP-North Carolina Director Dallas Woodhouse. “We think American families need to know what these proposals will cost them – lost jobs, even higher energy prices, and less freedom.”

AFP specifically targeted regulation known as “cap-and-trade,” which is essentially a huge, stealth energy tax hike on families and businesses. It is the intended effect of the bill to make energy much more expensive so people use less of it. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill as a $1.2 trillion net government revenue increase – meaning a $1.2 trillion transfer from energy consumers to government.

Although the U.S. Senate rejected Lieberman-Warner, the effort to pass the costly regulations was just a dress rehearsal for next year when there will likely be more Congressional support. AFP has pledged to continue to mobilize citizens in order to fight off future attempts to pass a cap-and-trade regulatory scheme.

The group also targeted North Carolina state regulations that are beginning to increase the cost of energy through building mandates, forced reliance on renewable energy and other government regulations that will raise the cost of living for all North Carolina families. The group stated that the General Assembly should enact an Energy Prosperity Agenda that includes:

Ending the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change:

•    The Commission is filled with environmental extremists—there’s no balance.  One member recently compared doing nothing on global warming to the United States doing nothing to stop Hitler.

Repeal of SB 3, the renewable energy and energy efficiency bill that will cost North Carolinians at least half a billion a year when fully implemented:

•    North Carolinians didn’t voluntarily support renewable energy, such as wind and solar, so this law forces us to pay extra to subsidize these unreliable and costly forms of electricity.

•    The law would require North Carolinians to pay for electricity used by people outside the state—if energy prices aren’t bad enough; we get to pay for the electricity of Texans.

Repeal all energy subsidies to special interest groups:

•    If you own a business, how would you like the government to force people to buy goods and services from you? This is exactly what SB3 does for numerous companies trying to sell solar, wind power, and biofuels.

Reform or eliminate the Public Staff:

•    The Public Staff is supposed to be the consumer advocate for electricity consumers.
•    They strongly supported higher cost, less reliable energy, such as wind-power.  Does this sound consumer-friendly?
•    The Public Staff has admitted that it has supported policies for environmental reasons even though their sole purpose is to represent consumers and their interests.

Mount support for off shore oil drilling:

•    Drilling for oil and natural gas off the North Carolina coast could help the economy
“Alarmists like John Edwards who are pushing economically-devastating climate change policies are out of touch with average people,” said Woodhouse. “Despite the propaganda being spread about climate change, Americans continue to be most concerned about economic uncertainty and higher energy prices. It would be foolhardy to enact any regulation that would transfer dollars from families to bureaucratic big-government.”

Americans for Prosperity held a luncheon on the grounds of the State Legislative Building, and was scheduled to fly the balloon over the house of Presidential Candidate John Edwards who continues to push climate change policies that would raise the cost of energy for average Americans while he lives in one of the largest homes in North Carolina.