Environmental bulls eye squarely on Kentucky

Wow, just when you think there might be enough U.S. senators to realize that the proposed cap and trade issue is a bad idea, the EPA declares carbon dioxide a health hazard and says it will regulate its emissions. That thud you hear is a collective groan from economic development leaders in Kentucky.

Earlier this year, the U.S. House barely passed the controversial cap and trade legislation that would have the effect of raising electric rates for states like Kentucky, where more than 90% of electricity is generated by the Commonwealth's abundance of coal. We've enjoyed electric rates that are about half of most of the U.S. and that clearly has been our state's biggest asset to luring and keeping manufacturing. Today, smelters in the Owensboro area produce nearly 20% of the world's aluminum. Aluminum jobs are high-paying with good benefits and also have a high job multiplier effect. If electric rates go up dramatically, those plants are in jeopardy.

At the same time, the EPA is starting to clamp down on sewer agencies like that in Owensboro where sewage and storm water are in the same pipes. Many communities around the country have decades-old combined systems, and the EPA wants sewage and storm water separated. That's another idea—like clean air—that sounds good but costs millions and millions to accomplish. Owensboro's sewer agency has been working with the EPA for a long time on a plan to mitigate this, and I'm told that EPA officials have essentially told the agency that because local sewer rates are much less than the national average, there is "room for rates to grow."

Room for rates to grow? Try telling that to a citizenry that is struggling to pay their current bills, perhaps scared of a losing their job or facing the expense of sending a child to college. Growing utility bills are also no solution for struggling business and industry slowed by the economy. Kentucky stands to be a big overall loser in the name of environmental stewardship.