Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. has officially come out against a bill aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions currently being considered in the U.S. House.
The legislation seeks to reduce emissions by imposing a national limit, or cap, on greenhouse gases. It would then allow polluters to buy and sell their emissions credits. If a polluter emitted less than its allotment, it could sell the excess.
David Sokol, MidAmerican’s chairman, said in a statement that cap-and-trade legislation “will force our customers to pay two expensive costs.”
“First, they will pay the cost of emissions allowances purchased on a complex auction market that will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and second, they will pay the cost of replacing our existing fossil-fuel generation facilities with low-carbon alternatives.”
MidAmerican’s decision stand in contrast to many of America’s industrial giants, including General Electric, Dow Chemical, Shell Oil and Duke Energy, who support the plan. Iowa’s other big energy provider, Alliant Energy, supports the measure.
Supporters of the plan say it creates a system that rewards companies for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and uses the free enterprise system to wean the country off fossil fuels and onto renewable energy.
Sokol said the a recession is not a good time to propose such a sweeping piece of legislation.
“Cap and trade will have a profoundly negative impact on people who are struggling to make ends meet in an economy still in distress,” he said.
President Barack Obama also has made a cap-and-trade bill a priority.
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