Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Key Vote At Hand On EPA Authority

Nearly two years after the Great Recession officially ended, unemployment still stands at a troubling 8.9 percent, economic growth remains sluggish, gas prices are high and rising, consumer sentiment is falling. And none of it is expected to get much better any time soon. You'd think that in this context politicians — particularly those hoping to keep their jobs after 2012 — would be doing everything they can to kick away burdensome rules and regulations that would threaten growth and jobs. A good place to start would be blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. By all accounts, letting EPA control emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases said to contribute to global warming would amount to, as Time magazine put it, "the most far-reaching environmental regulatory scheme in American history." And, despite the pleadings of environmentalists, there's little question that these rules will push economic growth down and energy costs up. The American Council for Capital Formation puts the cost of EPA's greenhouse gas rules at 46,000 to 1.4 million lost jobs and $25 billion to $75 billion in lost capital investment by 2014, along with a $500 billion reduction in GDP by 2030, all while boosting gasoline and electricity costs by 50%. Which is no doubt why just about everyone — from Republicans to Democrats to EPA itself — is busy trying to delay the agency's greenhouse gas regulatory regime from getting started...more

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