The Coal Industry is back spending millions of dollars trying to sway public opinion of coal power by talking about “the importance of low-cost electricity.” Fortunately for those in favor of the climate bill (despite its flaws), it does not have the same scare factor as “death panels” or that “politicians are out to kill grandpa” seems to be pervasive in debates about health care reform in the US.
Cost of power is extremely important, especially when considering people with fixed incomes or lower income people.
Legislation that drives prices up pretty regularly damages both of these groups. A lot of times it is directly related to environmental factors.
I’d say renewable technologies should just keep working and wait to be market viable – fair in a free market, but Big Energy uses government to keep the little guys (mostly alternate/green energy) down. So really, what’s fair in this game?