On August 3, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented their final version of the Clean Power Plan. The aim of the plan is a 32% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (so-called greenhouse gases) by the year 2030 – 9% higher than the original proposal (to which the White House responded that it was just being “more ambitious”). Because of the obvious opposition from many in Congress, the EPA added a “reliability safety valve”, which gives states a certain amount of leeway in implementation should the integrity of the U.S. electric grid be brought into question.
With many calling the plan simply “a war on coal,” the American Action Forum (AAF) has published their predictions on the effects upon the US energy industry. Using a PwC study that found that 1 worker in the energy industry actually supports a further 3.7 additional jobs, they predict a loss of around 125,800 jobs (based on the EPA’s projection of 34,000). Furthermore, according to the AAF, they predict 66 coal-powered plants will close nationally. They also propose the Clean Power Plan will cost $8.4 billion to bring into being, thus pushing regulatory costs for the year so far over $145 billion; the Clean Power Plan will be almost 10 times more costly than “the most burdensome rule of 2015.”
This is an age when the national debt is so huge it will simply never be paid off. If you are concerned that the Obama administration is creating policies that are harmful to the U.S. economy as it is today, please Like & Share this post.
