Republicans Trying Stop Bill That Would Fine Power Companies

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(UNDATED) - Republicans are hitting the road to sound an alarm against the: Cap-and-Trade energy bill awaiting a vote in the US House.

Indianapolis is the third stop in a four-city series of hearings organized by congressmen Mike Pence of Indiana and Fred Upton of Michigan.

The bill is aimed at reducing carbon emissions by charging power companies a fee if they fail to cut emissions by one-sixth by 2020.

Pence complains that penalizes states like Indiana which rely heavily on both coal and manufacturing.

He says eight of Indiana's nine congressional districts would be among the 20 hardest-hit nationwide, while the east and west coasts reap the benefits of their use of hydroelectric power.

Marty Irwin with the Indiana Center for Coal Technology Research echoes GOP claims that the caps would be a job-killer in the manufacturing-heavy Midwest.

"The environmental protection agency says there'll be an increase in green jobs. This is true. But the EPA also says the manufacturing jobs lost will be greater than the new jobs gained," Irwin says.

Irwin puts the net job losses in Indiana at about 23-thousand by 2050, an average of nearly 600 a year.

Three of Indiana's four GOP house members attended the two-hour hearing, along with Upton and Ohio Congressman Bob Latta.

Third district congressman Mark Souder sent staff members in his place.

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