I'm in favor of taking action to reduce CO2 emissions and to protect our environment. But I don't support the "cap-and-trade" plan now being debated in Congress.

"Cap-and-trade" is an approach that would have the government set caps on carbon emissions from certain sources, and then establish a market in which allowances for CO2 emissions would be bought and sold on a financial exchange. Supporters call it a "market-based solution."

I think it is the wrong solution and I don't support it.

I support capping carbon emissions. But it has to be done the right way, with targets and timelines that allow us to accomplish our goals without driving the cost of energy for homeowners and businesses out of sight. The cap-and-trade plan does not meet that test for me.

I know the Wall Street crowd can't wait to sink their teeth into a new trillion-dollar trading market in which hedge funds and investment banks would trade and speculate on carbon credits and securities. In no time they'll create derivatives, swaps and more in that new market. In fact, most of the investment banks have already created carbon trading departments. They are ready to go. I'm not.

For those who like the wild price swings in the oil futures market, the unseemly speculation in mortgage-backed securities, or the exotic and risky financial products like credit default swaps that pushed our economy into the ditch, this cap-and-trade plan will be the answer to their prayers.

Just last year, speculators overwhelmed the oil futures market, every day trading 20 to 25 times more oil than was being produced. That speculation drove the price of oil from $60 to $147 a barrel and gasoline to over $4 a gallon. The same speculators forced the price back down and made money in both directions. The American public paid the price for it.

Don't get me wrong. I like free markets. But given recent history, I have little confidence that large financial markets are free or fair enough to trust them with a new, large cap-and-trade carbon securities market.

I'm willing to cap carbon to address the threat to our environment. But it has to be done right. I will support a plan that establishes workable caps, invests in technology to decarbonize fossil fuels and sends the majority of the revenue raised to consumers to offset increases in the price of electricity resulting from the caps.

Energy is an important part of our lives. We need to work to decarbonize the use of coal so that we can use our most abundant fossil energy resource. We have to maximize the development of renewable energy. Green, renewable energy protects our environment and it also makes us less dependent on foreign oil (70 percent of our oil comes from other countries).

Here's what we need to do to protect our environment and make us less dependent on foreign oil:

1. Establish caps on carbon that are accompanied by both adequate research and development funding and reasonable timelines for implementation to develop and commercialize technologies that will greatly reduce the CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

2. Use the majority of the revenue from a plan that caps CO2 to provide refund payments to those who would otherwise experience increased energy costs.

3. Even as we continue to decarbonize the use of fossil energy, we should maximize the production of renewable energy from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and more.

4. Set an ambitious renewable electricity standard (RES) along with longer-term tax incentives for the wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy.

5. To move this new energy, we need to build a transmission system to allow us to produce renewable energy where we can, and move it to the load centers where it is needed.

6. To reap the benefits of cleaner energy and reduced dependence on foreign oil, we need to move toward using electricity to fuel our transportation fleet.

North Dakota and the nation have a lot at stake in this debate. We are a major energy-producing state, with our ability to produce large quantities of oil and our large deposits of coal, which is our country's most abundant form of energy. We have the greatest wind energy potential of any state, and we have the ability to produce a large quantity of biofuels.

It's clear we are going to have to use energy differently in the future to protect our planet. And to do that I will support a plan that puts achievable caps on CO2 emissions - if it is done the right way.

But I'm not signing up to create a new financial market to trade carbon securities. In my judgment, it is exactly the wrong way to address this issue.