Yesterday’s Cap and Trade event on the SCSU campus had a huge attendance, with both sides of the issue well-represented. Chris Horner made a number of statements that elicited jeers from those that think MMGW is a serious threat to our planet.

One of Mr. Horner’s statements that elicited a response was that Cap and Trade won’t shrink the amount of greenhouse gases. In fact, Horner said that “since Kyoto’s implementation, America’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen at a slower rate than those countries that implemented Kyoto.”

One thing that’s clear is that it’s a tax increase. While MMGW advocates talk about the need to save the planet, the reality is that there’s little proof that humankind effects the earth’s climate.

When one of the MMGW believers said that “At least we don’t go to war over windmills”, Horner instantly replied that, since oil products were needed to manufacture windmills, that yes, we did go to war for windmills.

Another key point that Horner made was that most of the IPCC’s infamous 2,000 scientists weren’t really scientists, that “75% of “IPCC’s 2000″ are anthropology TA’s.” The chief ‘expert’ that the IPCC highlighted is an economist.

Another point Mr. Horner made was through a question. He asked those who advocated Cap and Trade where windmills supplied the needs of industries, homes and businesses. He asked this question to highlight the fact that no such places exist.

Horner’s speed was too fast, though, partially because Mr. Horner wanted to cover alot of ground.

According to Mr. Horner, a study by Johns Hopkins said that “replacing 3/4ths of US coal-based energy with higher priced energy would lead to 150,000 extra premature deaths annually in the US alone.”

Mr. Horner also cited a Penn State report that says replacing 2/3 of the US Coal-based energy with more expensive energy would cost 3 million jobs, with losing 4 million job a definite possibility.

Most of the questions submitted were from Mr. Horner’s critics. To his credit, Mr. Horner answered those questions on point. To their credit, the MMGW advocates behaved themselves pretty well. That doesn’t mean, however, that they weren’t vocal in their opposition.

UPDATE: Make sure you check out Andy’s post and King’s post on the event.

If you’re interested in reading a thoroughly biased post from the dark side, Eric’s post is the one I’d recommend.

UPDATE II: After the event, Andy and I plotted the overthrow of the DFL over subs at Bo Diddley’s. I’ll have to talk with Andy to see if we want to publish the report on our blogs or if we’ll email it to our tiny cabal of bloggers. (Personally, I’m voting for keeping it secret.)

Technorati: IPCC, Climate Change, CO2 Emissions, Cap And Trade, Carbon Tax, Chris Horner, Michele Bachmann, Wind Farms, Oil, Coal