In The News
RR: U.S. Cap-and-Trade Without International Action: All Pain and No Gain
Tuesday October 27, 2009
As of 2005, 20 nations combined to release more than 70 percent of global emissions.[i] Those 20 countries include many developing countries whose emissions since 1990 have increased dramatically, including China (up 100.8%), India (68.1%), Brazil (47.3%), Indonesia (78.0%), Iran (131.3%), South Korea (78.6%) and South Africa (26.4%).[ii] By contrast U.S. emissions have increased by only 16.6 percent in that time frame, while the U.S. is emitting less per unit of economic outcome.[iii] Since 1990, the share of developing countries' emissions has increased, while developed countries' share has declined.
RR: Incomplete CBO Estimate Does Not Include All Costs of Cap-and-Trade
Tuesday October 27, 2009
In its document, CBO attempts to estimate how government redistribution (by giving away allowances and auction proceeds) will protect taxpayers, including those who were promised by the President that their taxes would not increase by a single dime.[ii] CBO estimates an average gross cost of $890 per household in 2020 with the top quintile paying an average of $1,380.[iii] After a generous assumption of an enormous government run wealth redistribution scheme via auction proceeds and free allowances, CBO projects a net average cost of $175 per household on average, with a middle quintile facing the highest net costs of $340.[iv] That figure, however, is only the budgetary cost of the scheme per household, not a comprehensive economic analysis. Moreover, it examines only one year of the program, a year that CBO optimistically assumes is relatively low cost, and after the expensive transition years.
As a result, CBO's estimate really only captures some of the costs of cap-and-trade, as the report acknowledges.
RR: Cap-and-Trade Destroys Jobs
Tuesday October 27, 2009
Reality: Cap-and-trade will destroy millions of jobs overall, even if it does create some green jobs. Numerous studies have analyzed the effect of cap-and-trade legislation[i] and concluded that it would result in millions of fewer jobs overall, even if it does create some green jobs. The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the government agency in charge of providing official energy statistics, concluded that cap-and-trade could result in up to 2.3 million fewer jobs in 2030 and up to 800,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in 2030, after including new green jobs.[ii]
The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) commissioned a study by Charles River Associates (CRA) that concluded cap-and-trade would result in about 1.5 million fewer jobs in 2015 and 3.6 million fewer jobs in 2050, after new green jobs were considered[iii] (graph below[iv]).
The Hill: Inhofe: Dems Understate Nation's Resources
Tuesday October 27, 2009
"With 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, the U.S. cannot drill its way to energy security," then-presidential nominee Barack Obama wrote on his campaign website in 2008. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stated, "All told, the U.S. has only 1.6 percent of world's known oil supply." And in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added, "The math is simple: America has just 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, but Americans use a quarter of its oil."
NRO Editorial: Scrap the Cap
Tuesday October 27, 2009
Sen. Jim Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has blown the whistle on the Democrats' strategy, which involves targeting Republicans such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham. We've been down this road before: Last year, when the GOP was winning the debate over offshore drilling, Graham and four other Republicans nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by signing onto a watered-down compromise that would have opened only a tiny sliver of the coast for drilling in exchange for a batch of new subsidies for renewable energy, including nuclear power.
Inhofe Works to Fix Road Funding (Tulsa World)
Monday October 26, 2009
By the end of the week, the Oklahoma Republican hopes to have a deal in place to at least halt that downward trend.
"Oklahoma loses on this," he said.
At issue is whether Inhofe and other top congressional players on transportation can work out an agreement on a short-term extension, possibly six months, of the current transportation programs.
If they fail, they may have to settle for another month-long resolution like the one passed in September.
Wash. Post: Republicans May Delay Cimate Bill Markup
Friday October 23, 2009
Inhofe, speaking to reporters Friday afternoon, said the committee's seven Republicans were united in their determination to fully review the bill sponsored by Democratic Sens. John Kerry (Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.).
The bill is set to have its first hearing Tuesday and Boxer, who chairs the Environmental and Public Works Committee, said this week she hopes to mark up the bill a week or two after that.
Although the ratio of committee Democrats to Republicans is 12 to 7, under committee rules two Republicans must attend a markup in order to have a quorum.
We're not being unreasonable," Inhofe said. "The only leverage we have is the quorum leverage, and if we get stonewalled, we'll use it.
WITNESS LIST: LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON S. 1733, CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND AMERICAN POWER ACT - WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2009
Friday October 23, 2009
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
"LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON S. 1733, CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND AMERICAN POWER ACT"
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2009
9:30 AM
Dirksen 406
(Order subject to change)
Panel I: Jobs and Economic Opportunities
- Peter Brehm, Vice President of Business Development & Government Relations, Infinia Corporation
- Dan Reicher, Director, Climate and Energy Initiatives, Google
- Dave Foster, Executive Director, Blue Green Alliance
- The Honorable Michael Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Kate Gordon, Senior Policy Advisor, Apollo Alliance
- Bill Klesse , Chairman and CEO, Valero Energy Corp
- Brett A. Vassey, President and CEO, Virginia Manufacturers Association
Panel II: National Security
- The Honorable John Warner, United States Senator (Retired)
- Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces, United States Department of Defense
- Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, USN (Ret.), Member, Center for Naval Analysis Advisory Board
- Major General Robert H. Scales (Ret.)
- Drew Sloan, Fellow, Truman National Security Project
- Lieutenant Colonel James Jay Carafano (Ret.), Deputy Director, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Panel III: Utilities
- David Crane, President and Chief Executive Officer, NRG Energy, Inc.
- Ralph Izzo, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG)
- Kevin Law, President and Chief Executive Officer, Long Island Power Authority
- Nathaniel Keohane, Director of Economic Policy and Analysis, Environmental Defense Fund
- Joel Bluestein, President, Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc., ICF International
- Barry Hart, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives
- Dustin Johnson, Commissioner, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
Panel IV: Adaptation
- The Honorable Shari Wilson, Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment
- Ronald E. Young, President, California Association of Sanitation Agencies
- Dr. Peter C. Frumhoff, Chief Scientist, Climate Campaign, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Larry J. Schweiger, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Wildlife Federation
- Fawn Sharp, President, Quinault Indian Nation
- Jim Sims, President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Business Roundtable
- Dr. Kenneth P. Green, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
WITNESS LIST: LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON S. 1733, CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND AMERICAN POWER ACT - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009
Friday October 23, 2009
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
"LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON S. 1733, CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND AMERICAN POWER ACT"
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009
9:30 AM
Dirksen 406
Panel I: Moving to a Clean Energy Economy
- Preston Chiaro, Chief Executive Officer, Energy Product Group, Rio Tinto
- John Rowe, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation
- Dr. Willett Kempton, Professor, Marine Policy, University of Delaware
- Bob Winger, President, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local 11
- Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund
- Mike Carey, President, Ohio Coal Association
- Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation
Panel II: Transportation
- The Honorable Sherwood Boehlert, Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Transportation Policy Project
- William Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association
- Mike McKeever, Executive Director, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG)
- Barbara J. Windsor, President & Chief Executive Officer, Hahn Transportation, Inc.
Panel III: Actions in Other Countries
- John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress
- Ned Helme, President, Center for Clean Air Policy
- Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute
- Iain Murray, Vice-President for Strategy, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Panel IV: Moving to a Clean Energy Economy
- The Honorable Linda Adams, Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency
- Dave Johnson, Organizing Director, Laborers’ Union Eastern Region, Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)
- J. Stephan Dolezalek, Managing Director, VantagePoint Venture Partners
- David Hawkins, Director, Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Eugene Trisko, Attorney at Law, On behalf of the United Mine Workers of America
- Charlie Smith, President & Chief Executive Officer, CountryMark
- Paul Cicio, President, Industrial Energy Consumers of America
COAL, CCS AND CRS
Thursday October 22, 2009
For the record, neither Kerry-Boxer nor Waxman-Markey comes close to untangling the CCS web. And judging by the posture of each bill's strongest supporters, the great untangling is unlikely to happen any time soon. Yet funding CCS without also attaching the necessary regulatory and policy clarifications to build CCS is a fool's errand, providing no consolation to investors (and ultimately ratepayers) who will assume considerable financial and legal risk. And it's therefore ultimately no help to coal, which Kerry-Boxer and Waxman-Markey would just as well see driven to extinction.