Arrrrg

Quotes like this drive me up the friggin' wall.

In recent years, New Mexico Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman has become the lawmaker most linked to this cause. His version of the safety valve emerged in 2005 in a legislative proposal that created a price cap on carbon. It would guarantee that American companies pay no more than $12 for every ton of carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere. This rate would go up five percent annually beyond inflation.

Rallying against him are environmental groups and commodity traders who are concerned his plan would stifle investment in new low- and zero- carbon energy technologies. Meanwhile industry and labor unions are forming up their ranks behind Bingaman.

Jesus H. Christ. Why the hell is it that every time there's any even remotely progressive move on energy or the environment, old-line industrial unions can be found on the wrong side?

Haven't you guys learned anything from the last 100 years? Your bosses are not your friends. Anytime they say they're trying to protect your jobs, they're lying . Any time they say a government action would lead to less jobs, they're lying. Look at fucking Hollywood. The writer's union had about as uncontroversial demand as it is possible to have: payment for work. And Hollywood -- which, you'll note, has just spent the previous decade saying that they're suing teenagers and killing their puppies "to protect artists" -- told the writers to go fuck themselves, with a strike on top.

Jim Stanford manages to get this exactly wrong, quoted back when the Liberals were applauding the Conservative budget:

However, Mr. Stanford said the Canadian auto industry will actually be happy to see the end of the green-car rebate program. “That program sounded good in spirit, but it was perverse in impact,” he said.

While the program has been attractive for environmentally conscious consumers, the auto makers saw it as providing an incentive to buy fuel-efficient foreign-made cars rather than bigger vehicles built by Canadian manufacturers.

“We'll be glad to see that one die,” he said.

OH MY GOD BRING ME STANFORD'S HEAD ON A PLATTER. Here's a wild idea for Jim Stanford, economist with the Canadian Autoworkers Union, to get behind: Canadian car makers should make smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Then they could have gotten some of that magic government money too. By saying "it was perverse in impact", Stanford means "it did exactly what it was intended to do, we just suck at making good cars, and the Koreans are really good at it. Unfair!"

Now, before you get the wrong idea, my idea was always that everything should be unionized. I want to see strong solar, wind, and electric car unions too. But at the moment, the only industries that have real union muscle behind them are the big polluting ones. (See Ontario's Power Worker's Union and their attacks on coal closings.)