Americans for Prosperity in Austin held a simulcast conference at the State Capitol Wednesday in an effort to raise opposition to cap and trade legislation.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, cap and trade legislation would give companies the option of lowering emissions to free up allowances to trade, sell or bank, or continue emitting at levels higher that their allowance permits, and compensate for the excess by purchasing more allowances. The energy tax on coal, oil and natural gas use aims to curb pollution and the nation's carbon footprint.

The advocacy group held a Web cast of United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in part to oppose cap and trade legislation as "an energy-rationing scheme."

"We're really hoping that the American citizens put enough pressure on our elected officials, on our president, and on our Senate, so that they realize what an economic disaster this cap and trade legislation would be for our economy—that it would put us behind countries like China," said spokeswoman Cindy Mallette.

Officials and supporters behind the cap and trade legislation say the tax hike is necessary to curb the effects of emissions on health and global warming, which they say is very real.

"We've got to fix the global warming. We've got to fix the ozone problem. It's not an easy or quick fix, but we need a national energy policy that reflects the desire to reduce that," cap and trade supporter David Grey said.

Officials say raising the cost of fossil fuels imported from other countries would create an incentive to find better alternatives, but Americans for Prosperity of Austin say new alternatives would hurt the state economically.

The group estimates that as the oil and gas industry leader in the United States, Texas would lose about 171,000 jobs over the next few years if the legislation passed.

For more information about Americans for Prosperity or to see videos from the UN conference in Denmark, click the links.

To learn more about proposed cap and trade policies, visit EPA.gov.