American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 http://www.govtrack/ .us/congress/ bill.xpd? bill=h111- 2454 This is unbelievable! Only the beginning… ….
 
Wow!  Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home owners!!!  Beginning 1 year
after enactment of the Act, you won’t be able to sell your home
unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency
standards of this Act.
 
          H.R.  2454, the “Cap & Trade”
bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate,
will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced.  The
Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just
a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per
year.  No one is excluded..  However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in
their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they
pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost.  Thus, you Mr. and Mrs. Middle
Class America will have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will
be needed to bail out everyone else.
 
But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it. Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won’t be able to sell your house.
Yes, you read that right.  The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if you have enough money to
make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it.  But, ifnot, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes (“mobile homes”) are included. In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.
 
To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured.  Then the
government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and
you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit
provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency
requirements. Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a
license (called a “label” in the Act) that must be posted on your property to
show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency
rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner If you don’t get a
high enough rating, you can’t sell.  And, the EPA administrator is
authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy
efficiency increases built into the Act.
 
The EPA administrator,appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the “American
Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″) and is authorized to make any
future changes to the regulations and standards he alone determines to be in the
government’s best interest.  Requirements are set low initially so the bill
will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new
standards every year.  The Act itself contains annual required increases in
energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and
buildings.  However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time.
 
        Sect.  202:
        Building Retrofit Program
mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of
all existing homes across America. Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won’t be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to
comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act.  You
had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will
be really hard (i.e., ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years.  Oh, goody!  The
Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to
comply with the retrofit program requirements if you meet certain energy
efficiency levels.  But, wait, the State can set additional requirements
on who qualifies to receive the grants.  You should expect
requirements such as ”can’t have an income of more than $50K per year”, “home
selling price can’t be more than $125K”, or anything else to target the upper
middle class (and that’s YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants
Most of us won’t get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the
retrofit out of our own pockets.  More transfer of wealth, more “change you can
believe in.”
 
        Sect.  204:
        Building Energy Performance
Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual
residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for “at
least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act.” This means that within five years, 90% of all
residential homes in the U.S.   must be measured and labeled.  The EPA
administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program.  The Secretary
of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to
help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be
spent on coming up with tougher standards each year.  Oh, the label will be
like a license for your car.  You will be required to post the label in a
conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your
home without having this label.  And, just like your car license, you will
probably be required to get a new label every so often – maybe every year.
But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy
efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time.  Remember what
they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in
California it would only cost $15.  That was when the program started.  Now
the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase.
Expect the same from the home labeling program.
>
>                                         Sect.  304:
Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National
Building Code and mandates at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this
Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code
energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the
federal government that their state and/or local codes have been
brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency
standards.