It’s Not Easy Being Green

Last Friday, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal released his first ad attacking his Republican opponent, Linda McMahon.

Today, Ed Patru, McMahon’s spokesman, responds in an e-mail to the press:

Blumenthal doesn’t refute the fact that he supports a national energy tax, nor does he refute the fact that his national energy tax would increase energy rates by nearly $1000 per household, raise the cost of gas by 68 cents a gallon, and cost Connecticut over 13,000 jobs.

Then Patru, quoting an editorial from The Waterbury Republican-American, challenges Blumenthal’s claim that he lowered electric rates:

The Energy Information Administration says the residential electric rate in Connecticut is 19.41 cents per kwh, a 74 percent premium over the U.S. average of 11.18 cents. Thanks to Mr. Blumenthal’s habitual interference with power generation and delivery, electric rates in Connecticut have risen 18.1 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars since his election two decades ago.

To be fair to Blumenthal, you’d have to show more than the fact that rates rose under his watch to prove that he contributed to the hikes. Brian Lockhart at Political Capitol points out that Connecticut is implementing a miniature version of cap-and-trade within its borders:

A spokesman for RGGI, Inc., the New York-based nonprofit that oversees the whole show, told me that it is possible in some cases a household in a RGGI-member state could attribute around 70-cents of their monthly utility bill to the program. But in other cases there might not be any financial impact, they said.

Still, Blumenthal seems to like the idea, even though he says the issue is “dead.” A pertinent question is, “Does he mourn its passing?”