This is a letter I sent to 2nd District Congressman Glenn Nye prior to the Cap and Trade vote asking him to vote AGAINST the bill. I am pleased to report that he did just that. This goes to show that Virginians can effect change even against the likes of Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party majority in the House of Representatives. We as Virginians must keep up the pressure to get the Senate to put this horrible policy into the grave. Write Senators Warner and Webb and ask them to vote against any attempt to pass this bill.

Here is the text of the letter:

June 24, 2009

Hon. Glenn Nye
116 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Nye,

I want to thank you for service in the congress, especially your efforts in sponsoring additional help for veterans. As a Navy veteran that has a small business, I am especially grateful for your help in securing additional help for supporting those who have risked so much for all of us.

I am concerned about two pending issues that I feel will cause grievous harm to our commonwealth and to the nation as a whole. The Obama administration has pending legislation coming up for a vote soon regarding healthcare and environmental issues, specifically National Healthcare Reform and the so-called “Cap and Trade” legislation

I wish to now address the most pressing item, Cap and Trade.

This is a new tax in the guise of environmental policy. We as a nation can’t afford this new taxation. As a congressman from a state that produces coal, and that generates most of its power from that very abundant and locally produced resource, I can’t conceive how you or any other member of our congressional delegation could back this sort of program. It would be ruinous to the mining industry in the commonwealth and to those communities that rely on coal exports. While I like the idea of green technologies and want to see new systems that are carbon neutral come on line, I also know that creating new taxes and making all of us who rely on coal generated electricity pay more when we don’t have to, and are all stretched financially, is unconscionable given the present economic environment. Tax credits for “clean coal” technology should be the order of the day, not this new tax burden. I hope that we can count on you to vote against it.

I am also appalled that the house leadership introduced a 300 page amendment package to the bill in the early morning of June 26th with all kinds of goodies for those who are undecided.

This is a thinly veiled bribe.

I hope that you are not one of those people who would succumb to such ministrations, that you would be part of this massive tax increase on us who can ill afford to have the most important of resources, energy, made more expensive by congressional fiat. I urge you to vote down this very bad piece of legislation

I will close this, and once again thank you for your service to us all.

Respectfully,

Benjamin F. Snowden, Jr.