Cap and Trade: All Pain, No Gain for Consumers, Economy, Environment

Cap and Trade: All Pain, No Gain for Consumers, Economy, Environment
The Institute for Energy Research, Mar 13, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the heels of two hearings in the House today on how an economy-wide cap and trade program might affect working-class American families, Institute for Energy Research (IER) released an analysis that demonstrates that lawmakers’ concerns about the financial burden cap and trade would impose on their constituents are well founded.

“Cap and trade has two goals: increase energy costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,” said IER President Thomas J. Pyle. “IER’s analysis clearly shows that cap and trade goes one for two—it is as historically ineffective at reducing carbon dioxide emissions as it is historically adept at raising gas prices and electricity bills. With our economy in free fall and millions of Americans out of work, the idea that lawmakers would enact an unnecessary policy to harm families’ budgets is as irresponsible as it is illogical.”

The analysis shows that cap and trade:
· Is designed to increase the price of 85 percent of the energy we use;
· Didn’t reduce emissions in Europe, home of the world’s only full-scale carbon dioxide cap and trade policy;
· Targets low-income earners;
· Unfairly targets rural economies; and,
· Penalizes domestic and friendly trade partners’ energy resources in favor of Middle East oil.


More from IER on carbon regulation:

· IER Study: Carbon Taxes Reduce Economic Growth & Achieve No Environmental Improvement
· Blog Posting: The Dangers of a “Carbon Fed”
· Press Release: Obama Attempts to Sneak Biggest Tax Increase in History into Budget
· IER Study: Green Jobs: Fact or Fiction?