The Senate is considering legislation to let the federal government set a “cap” limiting the amount of carbon dioxide each business may emit. A company discharging less than its allowance could sell or “trade” its unused portion to another firm that had reached its limit. Hence cap and trade.

This is supposed to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by burning oil, coal and natural gas. Utilities, manufacturing and transportation rely on these fossil fuels and will face heavy taxes. President Barack Obama predicted electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Remember, 86 percent of Ohio’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants.

The U.S. House, with Zack Space’s help, passed cap and trade in 2009, ostensibly to save the planet from man-made global warming, a theory thousands of reputable scientists dispute. Since the planet has cooled slightly during the past 10 years, the phrase climate change now is preferable to global warming. That way, fossil fuels can be blamed for any weather — drought, floods, blizzards, hurricanes.

Last fall’s Climategate scandal revealed prominent scientists in England and at Penn State had falsified data supporting their global warming claims and conspired to suppress research contradicting their conclusions. Their fraudulent science was the basis for many countries’ efforts to reduce their carbon dioxide levels. (Yes, the same carbon dioxide that humans exhale and trees use for photosynthesis.)

There’s big money in grants funding global warming research. Carbon trading is a multibillion dollar business; fly your private jet and pay for planting trees to offset your carbon footprint.

China and India refuse to slow their booming economies by limiting carbon dioxide emissions. Cap and trade will give Washington life-and-death power over every U.S. business, further crippling our economy and destroying thousands of jobs.

Tell Sens. Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich to vote against cap and trade. Vote against economic suicide.