EXT: LNG IMPORTS  TERRORISM

EXT: LNG IMPORTS  TERRORISM

INCREASED LNG IMPORTS MAKE AN ACCIDENT OR TERRORIST ATTACK INEVITABLE.

EXT: COAST GUARD KEY

The coast guard is vital to the war on terror.

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 – The efforts of the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard are essential to victory in the war against terrorism, Vice President Richard B. Cheney told graduating cadets at their academy commencement today in New London, Conn. “When you stepped forward to serve the United States, it was already clear that these are decisive times in the life of our country,” Cheney told members of the Class of 2008 at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. “It’s rare for an academy class to begin during a war and then graduate during that same war.” The challenges that came to the United States as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks “will be the defining issue of your career,” Cheney told the more than 200 graduating cadets. “The Coast Guard will be essential to the fight, and the Coast Guard will be essential to victory” against terrorism, Cheney said, as America’s armed forces continue to battle transnational terrorists in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. The terrorists have vowed to attack again, and America is taking the threat seriously, Cheney said. The United States, he said, has bolstered security at its airports and maritime entry points, increased intelligence capacity to track enemy movements and plans, and organized a global coalition that is taking the fight to overseas-based terrorists. “This nation has kept the commitment declared by President Bush after 9/11: to wage this battle on the offensive, to track the enemy down until he has no place left to hide, and to stay in the fight until the fight is won,” Cheney observed. The Coast Guard is one of 22 federal agencies that were merged five years ago to form the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cheney recalled. The Coast Guard, he noted, is the only military element in that organization. “In its five years as part of DHS, the Coast Guard has undertaken the largest commitment at port security operation since the Second World War,” Cheney noted. “That, alone, is an enormous task, given the many foreign vessels that arrive in our ports every single day.” The Coast Guard also is improving America’s coastal defenses through implementation of better tracking technology, establishing security zones among major U.S. ports, Cheney explained, and is taking many other steps critical to keeping the American maritime domain free of terrorists. The Coast Guard also is heavily involved in overseas anti-terrorism operations, Cheney said. Coast Guard members, he said, “are providing port security, on-and-off loading of military hardware and patrol forces to secure assets in the Persian Gulf.”

LNG IMPORTS BAD: WAR

INCREASING LNG IMPORTS CAUSES MULTIPLE SCENARIOS FOR GLOBAL WAR.

IMPACT: NAT GAS SPIKES

EPA REGULATIONS WILL CAUSE MASSIVE NATURAL GAS PRICE SPIKES.

HIGH ENERGY COSTS KILL THE US ECONOMY

Alarm bells are going off everywhere regarding the state of the economy, from the crumbling subprime mortgage market to growing concern from the US Federal Reserve over stout energy prices. And a sluggish economy could take a toll on oil, and ultimately natural gas prices in the near future. "There's been a lot of concern that troubles in the US housing sector could infect the broader domestic economy and dent demand for energy," a gas futures trader in Houston said. "Historically, when the country slips into recession, the price for oil and natural gas tends to fall." A direct link exists between energy costs and the economy. When prices go up, businesses and consumers put more of their money into keeping the lights on and keeping their gas tanks filled. That leaves less to spend on other goods and services, stifling growth. Currently, high energy costs, growing consumer indebtedness, and now big troubles in the US housing market are the main catalysts of concern. The most recent signal: A huge fallout in the mortgage industry, as alarming numbers of subprime mortgage foreclosures were reported. While some economists think that the economy will weather this storm, others think recession is now inevitable; but almost all view recent economic events and intractably high energy costs with trepidation. "Last year, we saw prompt-month gas futures fall down to the $4 area, and we weren't even in recession during that time. So if a full-blown recession emerges, then that would seem reasonable. However, supply and demand issues for natural gas will ultimately drive prices just like we've seen over years; but now we just have to add the recession element to the equation."

EXT: NAT GAS SPIKES KILL ECON

HIGH GAS PRICES DEVASTATE THE ECONOMY

MORE EV.

''If you put a cap in America ... on the electrical utility sector today, and it's very substantial, the only choice the utility has actually is to go to natural gas and expand their renewable portfolio, but that will be relatively incremental,'' Connaughton told journalists in Washington. ''America gobbling up even more natural gas on the global marketplace is not just bad for our economy, it's bad for the global economy, especially in countries many of which import a lot of natural gas and rely on that for their economic growth because they don't have coal. What we need to do on power generation in America ... is pursue the research agenda and with massive incentives.''

NAT GAS SPIKES BAD: AGRICULTURE

HIGH NATURAL GAS PRICES CRUSH AGRICULTURE.

S. 1406 is important to our farmers. This bill is supported by the National Association of State Directors of Agriculture, the National Association of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers Association, and many more organizations committed to serving our American farmers, including Montana farm organizations. Grain prices are as low as they've been in years. High natural gas prices are causing skyrocketing fertilizer costs. And another year of drought looms on the horizon. Our farmers are facing a serious economic recession, multiplied by the fact that they're being forced to pay twice as much for chemicals that almost always have the exact same chemical make-up as those sold in Canada.

US AG KEY TO ECON, HEGEMONY, AND SOLVES GLOBAL HUNGER

“Agribusiness is to the United States what oil is to the Middle East.” This single statement encapsulates the criticality of agribusiness to the United States - to our economy, our way of life, and our national Power, No other industry crosses such a broad and diverse constituency . everyone living in the US is touched by and benefits from agribusiness. 

NAT GAS SPIKES BAD: CHEM INDUSTRY

EPA REGULATIONS WILL CAUSE MASSIVE NATURAL GAS PRICE SPIKES.

High natural gas prices will crush the petrochemical industry

The current spike in natural gas costs "may be the most critical issue our industry has ever faced in this state and nation." This is what Jim Woodrick, president of Texas Chemical Council, told comissioners of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) at a recent agency hearing in Austin. Last week benchmark gas prices hovered around $5.27 per 1,000 cubic feet (mcf) at the Henry Hub in Louisiana and on the Houston Ship Channel after having soared to $10.65 per mcf on January 2. In January 2000, the Henry Hub price was only $2.32 per mcf. RRC's hearing was designed to find price relief for industrial, business and home consumers. Mr. Woodrick says that high natural gas prices are posing serious near-term economic disruptions for chemical manufacturers. What's more, he projects that continuation of these conditions long-term will force the migration of production facilities out of Texas and this country. "Within the last few months," he says, "high natural gas prices have made many chemical businesses painfully unprofitable. Some production units have been forced to shut down or slow down while overseas plants operate at full capacity. Other units are losing money but are still operating to honor their supply commitments to their customers."

Extinction

NAT GAS SPIKES BAD: MANUFACTURING

EPA REGULATIONS WILL CAUSE MASSIVE NATURAL GAS PRICE SPIKES.

HIGH NATURAL GAS PRICES COLLAPSE MANUFACTURING – JACKS THE ECONOMY.

NAT GAS SPIKES BAD: METHANE DRILLING

High prices cause methane hydrate drilling

Methane hydrate is an icelike form of concentrated methane and water found in the sediments of permafrost regions and marine continental margins at depths far shallower than conventional oil and gas. Despite their relative accessibility and widespread occurrence, methane hydrates have never been tapped to meet increasing global energy demands. With rising natural gas prices, production from these unconventional gas deposits is becoming economically viable, particularly in permafrost areas already being exploited for conventional oil and gas. This article provides an overview of gas hydrate occurrence, resource assessment, exploration, production technologies, renewability, and future challenges

Extinction.

NAT GAS SPIKES BAD: RUSSIA

High natural gas prices cause Russian expansionism- kills heg

Given its position at the end of the Cold War, Russia's resurgence as a major power comes as something of a surprise. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia bore little resemblance to the feared global competitor it had been With an economy in shambles, a second-class military and an aging populace, it seemed destined to be a second-tier power whose only option was to cooperate with the United States. Yet today, high energy prices and Russia's vast wealth in reserves of oil and natural gas have fueled a revival of Russian Great Power nationalism. It has allowed Russia to rebuild its military and assert itself as a great power - not to be challenged in what it calls its "near abroad." Despite this significant power shift, U.S. policy toward Russia in the Putin years has been remarkably disengaged at times. Washington seems not to have noticed Russia's accumulating power and wealth, simmering resentments, democratic backsliding and growing ambitions - or at least not responded very effectively. As a result, recent events not only signal a resurgent Russia, they also give a clear indication of the limits of U.S. power and influence. The situation in Georgia and, on a more positive note, the many China lessons we have received through the prism of the Olympics coverage serve as a stark wake-up call about the changing nature of power in today's global order. If nothing else, the lessons should be that the United States cannot go it alone and that the United States needs to build effective and inclusive multilateral architecture to manage global problems. In the wake of the Second World War, the United States and its friends and partners labored mightily to create a rules-based order for the international community. It was not a perfect system, to be sure, but it offered a way to embed states in a web of laws, norms and institutions and bind them in dispute resolution and arbitration mechanisms that would prevent them from taking actions they might otherwise feel free to pursue. The United States built that system not out of altruism - although it was the right thing to do - but because it served our interests. It has anchored U.S. leadership in an uncertain world and created an international system and environment that has allowed us to safeguard our interest effectively. Russia's actions in Georgia are not the way of the future, but a return to the 19th century. We need to ensure that the way forward expands on the post-World War system we worked so hard to create and doesn't take us back to the broken approaches of the past. Despite the growing diffusion of world power during the past few years and some erosion of U.S. influence, it is certainly not too late.

Natural gas, not oil is key

The impact is global WMD conflict

Much is at stake in Eurasia for the U.S. and its allies. Attempts to restore its empire will doom Russia's transition to a democracy and free-market economy. The ongoing war in Chechnya alone has cost Russia $6 billion to date (equal to Russia's IMF and World Bank loans for 1995). Moreover, it has extracted a tremendous price from Russian society. The wars which would be required to restore the Russian empire would prove much more costly not just for Russia and the region, but for peace, world stability, and security. As the former Soviet arsenals are spread throughout the NIS, these conflicts may escalate to include the use of weapons of mass destruction. Scenarios including unauthorized missile launches are especially threatening. Moreover, if successful, a reconstituted Russian empire would become a major destabilizing influence both in Eurasia and throughout the world. It would endanger not only Russia's neighbors, but also the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Middle East. And, of course, a neo-imperialist Russia could imperil the oil reserves of the Persian Gulf.15

AT: NEW SOURCES SOLVE

NO NEW SOURCES – HARD TO FIND AND ACCESS, TOO EXPENSIVE.

Yet, the demand for LNG--perhaps more than other energy sources--is characterized by unpredictability. There are inherent uncertaintiesin any industry based on constrained natural resources. New natural gas sources are increasingly difficult and expensive to find and develop, more and more remote, and production volumes are harder to anticipate and realize.

IMPACT: STEEL INDUSTRY -- ECON

EPA REGS COLLAPSE THE DOMESTIC STEEL INDUSTRY

It is imperative that Congress delay EPA’s efforts to regulate GHG emissions from stationary sources. Most American manufacturing facilities, including steel mills, will be impacted if Congress does not delay EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from stationary sources. This will impose additional economic burdens and regulatory delays that will impede new business investment and slow efforts to get the economy moving again. Legislative action to stop EPA regulation of stationary sources is essential to preserving jobs and promoting economic growth while Congress considers comprehensive legislation to address climate change. Furthermore, EPA regulation will only exacerbate the competitiveness problems facing energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries by increasing their costs while their overseas competitors continue to avoid regulation. Only a comprehensive legislative approach to climate change can address the important international competitiveness and carbon leakage issues that are critical to energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries like steel. We have already lost 11.7 million manufacturing jobs over the last decade, 2.1 million alone since the start of the recession. The steel industry has already voluntarily stepped up to the plate by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 31% since 1990. Especially in light of the tepid economic recovery and the rampant expansion of steelmaking capacity that has occurred in non-regulated economies like China, the risks and uncertainties of unilateral regulation under the Clean Air Act are simply too great for the EPA to control.

Weak steel industry collapses the U.S. economy and military readiness

But because an advanced industrial economy needs a vibrant steel industry, not just a source of steel products, the U.S. steel industry needs some temporary resuscitation and long-term structural support to survive. More than 30 firms have gone bankrupt since 1998 -- and far more would likely have fallen over the edge without President George W. Bush's recent modest measures. The hard lesson of this debacle might well have been that it's easier to see an industry like steel implode than to rebuild it when it's needed. Why does America need a steel industry? Steel executives want to keep their companies afloat and the steelworkers union wants to preserve members' jobs. But beyond their immediate concerns, an important, long-term public interest is involved. First, steel provides critical linkages throughout manufacturing. A healthy steel industry can spur innovations in downstream industries such as autos. These industries would enjoy earlier access to new processes and products. U.S. steel firms, for example, are spearheading an international consortium on advanced vehicle concepts. It doesn't help that three of the largest U.S. firms involved are in bankruptcy. Second, steel remains an important source of well-paid, middle-class jobs. While more than 70,000 jobs are threatened at bankrupt steel producers, an additional 250,000 jobs at suppliers and firms dependent on steelworker spending are impacted, according to Professor Robert Blecker at American University. A collapsing steel industry cuts a wide swath of destruction through communities. Finally, a domestic industry provides more stable sources of supply, which is pivotal in a national security crisis. Steel is genuinely a strategic industry unless we are thinking about aluminum aircraft carriers and mahogany tanks.

IMPACT: STEEL INDUSTRY -- HEG

EPA REGS COLLAPSE THE DOMESTIC STEEL INDUSTRY

It is imperative that Congress delay EPA’s efforts to regulate GHG emissions from stationary sources. Most American manufacturing facilities, including steel mills, will be impacted if Congress does not delay EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from stationary sources. This will impose additional economic burdens and regulatory delays that will impede new business investment and slow efforts to get the economy moving again. Legislative action to stop EPA regulation of stationary sources is essential to preserving jobs and promoting economic growth while Congress considers comprehensive legislation to address climate change. Furthermore, EPA regulation will only exacerbate the competitiveness problems facing energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries by increasing their costs while their overseas competitors continue to avoid regulation. Only a comprehensive legislative approach to climate change can address the important international competitiveness and carbon leakage issues that are critical to energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries like steel. We have already lost 11.7 million manufacturing jobs over the last decade, 2.1 million alone since the start of the recession. The steel industry has already voluntarily stepped up to the plate by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 31% since 1990. Especially in light of the tepid economic recovery and the rampant expansion of steelmaking capacity that has occurred in non-regulated economies like China, the risks and uncertainties of unilateral regulation under the Clean Air Act are simply too great for the EPA to control.

STEEL INDUSTRY KEY TO MILITARY READINESS AND HEG.

GLOBAL NUCLEAR WAR.

Under the third option, the United States would seek to retain global leadership and to preclude the rise of a global rival or a return to multipolarity for the indefinite future. On balance, this is the best long-term guiding principle and vision. Such a vision is desirable not as an end in itself, but because a world in which the United States exercises leadership would have tremendous advantages. First, the global environment would be more open and more receptive to American values -- democracy, free markets, and the rule of law. Second, such a world would have a better chance of dealing cooperatively with the world's major problems, such as nuclear proliferation, threats of regional hegemony by renegade states, and low-level conflicts. Finally, U.S. leadership would help preclude the rise of another hostile global rival, enabling the United States and the world to avoid another global cold or hot war and all the attendant dangers, including a global nuclear exchange. U.S. leadership would therefore be more conducive to global stability than a bipolar or a multipolar balance of power system.

(Optional) STRONG MILITARY READINESS DETERS ALL CONFLICT.

The evidence indicates that the U.S. armed forces are not ready to support America's national security requirements. Moreover, regarding the broader capability to defeat groups of enemies, military readiness has been declining. The National Security Strategy, the U.S. official statement of national security objectives, 3 concludes that the United States "must have the capability to deter and, if deterrence fails, defeat large-scale, cross-border aggression in two distant theaters in overlapping time frames." 4 According to some of the military's highest-ranking officials, however, the United States cannot achieve this goal. Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Jones, former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jay Johnson, and Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Ryan have all expressed serious concerns about their respective services' ability to carry out a two major theater war strategy. 5 Recently retired Generals Anthony Zinni of the U.S. Marine Corps and George Joulwan of the U.S. Army have even questioned America's ability to conduct one major theater war the size of the 1991 Gulf War. 6 Military readiness is vital because declines in America's military readiness signal to the rest of the world that the United States is not prepared to defend its interests. Therefore, potentially hostile nations will be more likely to lash out against American allies and interests, inevitably leading to U.S. involvement in combat. A high state of military readiness is more likely to deter potentially hostile nations from acting aggressively in regions of vital national interest, thereby preserving peace.

EXT: STEEL KEY TO HEG

Domestic Steel key to hegemony and power projection

That's also the argument of many U.S. steel producers, who find it unprofitable to upgrade their own blast furnaces but profitable to roll out finished products using imported semifinished steel. Those closest to the mining sector agree, but hope to persuade decisionmakers in Washington that they perform a unique national-security function. Part of that function is assured production of steel during protracted conflict. Another part concerns U.S. power projection. "It is a tenet of U.S. policy that the national, economic and military security of the United States depends on its position as a maritime power and the strength of its national maritime infrastructure," says George J. Ryan, president of the Lake Carriers Association, which represents 12 U.S. companies operating ships on the Great Lakes.

Domestic steel key to merchant marines

Indeed, decisionmakers in Washington seem to have abdicated the country's maritime role completely. Apart from the shrinking Navy, the Pentagon has watched as the Merchant Marine -- the force of experienced civilian sailors called into active duty to man the Navy's cargo fleet during wartime -- dwindle almost beyond repair. The Navy needs more than 3,500 merchant sailors in wartime, but there simply aren't enough any more to operate military sealift while keeping the civilian shipping systems going. Vice President Dick Cheney learned a decade ago as secretary of defense during Operation Desert Shield how severely handicapped the Navy's sealift capacity had become with the erosion of the Merchant Marine. Many of the merchant sailors called up for the Persian Gulf War were in their 70s. The problem only has become worse in the decade since. As the Baltimore Sun recently discovered in a lengthy investigation, the fleet, with some 3,500 sailors, no longer is capable of servicing a modest conflict the size of the Persian Gulf War. New government regulations are causing the pool of qualified retirees to disappear and lose their certifications. That is, if the Pentagon can even find the sailors it needs during a crisis, since no database exists to locate qualified merchant seamen The shippers of the Great Lakes say that their endangered industry makes an important contribution to the active-duty pool of merchant sailors. They have benefited from the Jones Act, a law passed after World War I that requires ships transporting cargo and passengers between U.S. ports to be owned by U.S. citizens, built in U.S. shipyards and manned by U.S. citizen crews. "Without the critical mass represented by the domestic fleet, the United States would be unable to sustain the maritime infrastructure essential to national defense," says Ryan. "In a crisis, nearly 95 percent of arms and materiel is moved by ship. In the Bosnian conflict, 70 percent of the U.S. seafarers activated for military service had served on Jones Act vessels, including those operating on the Great Lakes. This is not surprising since 87 percent of all U.S.-flag shipboard-employment opportunities are in the Jones Act fleets." Kill the last U.S. iron mines on which Great Lakes shipping depends, advocates say, and the United States is killing off an important part of the Merchant Marine -- another point in favor of rescuing U.S. steel.

AT: REGS  GREEN JOBS

OUR IMPACT OUTWEIGHS ANY BENEFIT FROM GREEN JOBS

The new ANPR regulations will force consumers to pay more for energy as well as for other goods. Furthermore, the increased regula tions and subsequent high energy prices throw a monkey wrench into the production side of the economy. Contrary to claims of an economic boost from "green invest ment" and "green collar" job creation, more EPA regulation reduces economic growth, GDP, and employment opportunities. While there are some initial years in the period of our analysis during which CAA regulation of GHG could spur additional investment, this investment was completely undermined by the higher energy prices. Investment contributes to the economy when it increases future productivity and income. The greater and more effective the investment, the greater the increase in future income. Since income (as measured by GDP) drops as a result of new reg ulation, it is clear that more capital is destroyed than created. The cumulative GDP losses for 2010 to 2029 approach $7 trillion with single-year losses of nearly $650 billion. The anticipated "green-collar" jobs meet a similar fate. It may well be that some businesses will experi ence an increase in employment. But, overall, companies are saddled with significantly higher energy costs, as well as increased administrative costs, that will be reflected in their product prices. The higher prices make their products less attractive to consumers and thus less competitive. As a result, total employment drops along with the drop in sales.

More evidence – green jobs impact is minimal

AT: WARMING

The impact on overall warming is negligible

Last June, America's Climate Security Act was withdrawn by its Senate supporters after only three days of debate. A Heritage Foundation analysis de tailed the costs of the bill, which included a 29 per cent increase in the price of gasoline, net job losses well into the hundreds of thousands, and an overall reduction in gross domestic product of $1.7 to $4.8 trillion by 2030.[2] At the time of the debate, gasoline was approaching $4 per gallon for the first time in history, and signs of a slowing economy were begin ning to emerge. Economically speaking, the bill was one of the last items on the agenda that Americans wanted, and its Senate sponsors recognized that. Beyond the costs, the bill would have--even assum ing the worst case scenarios of future warming-- likely reduced the earth's future temperature by an amount too small to verify.[3]

Other nations won’t model EPA regulations

Causes Carbon leakage and LDC shift – guts econ and competitiveness without reducing CO2

Even with co2 cuts, can’t prevent warming

There is unequivocal evidence that humans are changing the planet’s climate. We are already committed to average temperature increases of about 0.6°C, even without further rises in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. The world has focused on mitigation — reducing carbon emissions — a close look at the costs and benefits suggests that relying on this alone is a poor approach. Option One: Continuing focus on mitigation Even if mitigation — economic measures like taxes or trading systems — succeeded in capping emissions at 2010 levels, then the world would pump out 55 billion tonnes of carbon emissions in 2100, instead of 67 billion tonnes. It is a difference of 18 per cent: the benefits would remain smaller than 0.5 per cent of the world’s GDP for more than 200 years. These benefits simply are not large enough to make the investment worthwhile.

Too much co2 has already been released – can’t prevent warming