Hot Air: Deflating Climate & Energy Myths 10/29/2009

Myth: Cap-and-trade is “very expensive” and “a policy that would destroy jobs.”

Senator Inhofe (R-WY)

EPW Committee opening statements, 10/27/2009

Fact: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient America (ACEEE) released a new report  this week that sets the record straight about how climate legislation that encourages energy-saving investments will create millions of jobs and saves U.S. consumers billions on monthly energy bills. 

As Senator Kerry explained to Senator Inhofe at the hearing, “almost every study that looks at the costs does not factor in the impact of energy efficiency, or the impact of new technology, or  the benefits of becoming more energy independent.  And most importantly, none of them factor in the cost of doing nothing.”

Many economic assessments of climate change policies completed to date, especially from opponents of the Waxman-Markey bill, make flawed assumptions that guarantee that meeting greenhouse gas emissions goals will result in job losses and economic costs to American families and businesses. By ignoring efficiency, these reports fail to take into account the long-term benefits from efficiency investments.  The new ACEEE analysis used a state of the art economic model that takes into consideration the economic benefits of provisions that encourage investments that will increase energy efficiency. The study found that the Waxman-Markey bill would reduce utility bills and lead to a net increase of hundreds of thousands of new jobs. If Waxman-Markey were improved to encourage even greater levels of investments in energy efficiency, it could deliver net energy bill savings of $400 billion by 2030 and nearly $470 billion by 2050, while also generating more than 2 million additional jobs by 2050 (nearly double the jobs that would be created by H.R. 2454 as passed by the House of Representatives).

In addition, a new analysis by researchers at University of Illinois, Yale University and UC Berkeley confirms that legislation similar to Waxman-Markey can strengthen our economy and create jobs. The new study shows that with strong implementation of energy efficiency measures the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) act, which passed the House in June, could create as many as 1.9 million jobs between 2010 and 2020.