Save Universities From Cap-And-Trade

Here's an interesting argument against the Democrats' cap-and-trade bill: cost to universities.

That's the angle taken by University of Missouri system President Gary Forsee (formerly CEO of Nextel) and Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who is currently running for Senate against Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

Forsee declared his opposition to cap-and-trade in a letter to Blunt that "implementation is expected to increase electricity costs up to 50 percent and coal and natural gas costs by 30 percent or more" on campuses around the state. After Forsee raised the concerns, Henry Waxman's (D-CA) House Energy and Commerce Committee looked into his figures; Waxman concluded, in a letter to two Missouri Democratic congressmen, that "it is evident that these estimates are inaccurate and significantly overstate the cost of the legislation."

But Blunt is standing by him. Blunt said today (via The Kansas City Star's PrimeBuzz):

Just as the proposed cap and trade system will result in significant increased costs to all American households, the University of Missouri System will be unable to escape significant cost increases resulting from this legislation