TWO SIDES OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE DEBATE: INCREASED CONSUMER ENERGY COSTS V. GREEN CLAIMS OF POTENTIAL BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SAVED


From the UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS:

Donate today—ensure sound science informs climate policy.

 
Dear Bruce,
  
For years, national leaders, the oil and coal industries, and other special interests have stalled urgently needed action on climate change—first by denying the science and now by insisting that cutting global warming pollution will destroy our economy. 
 

Help UCS deliver the facts to decision makers:

If the United States passes the smart climate policies that UCS recommends consumers and businesses will save:
 
$900: Average U.S. household net savings in 2030 on energy bills.
 
$255 billion: Savings to businesses and consumers on electricity, natural gas, home heating oil, and transportation costs in 2030.
 
$1.7 trillion: Total amount of money the United States would save from 2010 to 2030.

Click Here to Become a Member of UCS Today

We can't let them put our future, our children's future, and the future of our planet at greater risk. Please become a member of UCS by making a donation today. 
 
Time and again, the Union of Concerned Scientists has proven that these special interests are just plain wrong. Our groundbreaking, new report—Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy—outlines a comprehensive set of climate, energy, and transportation solutions that will rein in global warming pollution while saving you and your family money, putting Americans back to work, and jump-starting our economy. 
 
As you know, right now the U.S. Congress is debating a bill in the House of Representatives that limits global warming pollution, sets renewable energy standards, and invests in energy efficiency. This bill is an important step in the right direction, but it needs to be strengthened, and UCS analysis and policy experts can help show the way. 
 
Right now we have a real chance to reduce global warming pollution and prevent the worst consequences of climate change.But we need your help to get the facts into the hands of the people making these critical decisions. Please support our efforts by becoming a member today.
 
Your financial support today will help:

  • bring teams of scientists and economists to Capitol Hill—with our blueprint in hand—to convince undecided lawmakers that swift action on global warming will be good for our economy;
  • promote essential clean energy and transportation solutions such as deployment of advanced vehicle technology and requirements for utilities to generate increasing percentages of electricity from renewable resources such as the wind and sun;
  • wage a hard-hitting and strategic media campaign in states of swing-vote lawmakers; and
  • mobilize a nation-wide campaign in support of strong legislation that will prevent the worst consequences of global warming.

With historic climate change legislation now at a pivotal point—and special interests pulling out the stops to derail it—your immediate response is crucial. Please become a member today.
 
With your support we can reach Congress, the public, and the media with the facts about how taking action to curb global warming will help restore our economy. Please become a member.
  

Sincerely,
Kevin Knobloch
Kevin Knobloch
President
 

P.S. Our analysis shows that strong, science-based global warming pollution limits and forward-thinking energy and vehicle policies will enable us to rein in climate change, break our dependence on oil, and rebuild our economy. Please help turn up the heat on Congress to quickly enact legislation to achieve these crucial goals by becoming a member today. Thank you!





From the HERITAGE FOUNDATION:

Breaking Down the Costs of Waxman-Markey Global Warming Legislation

The idea behind cap and trade is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by putting a price on the right to emit carbon and other greenhouse gases on businesses. Because fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide, cap and trade becomes a costly tax on fossil fuels and the energy they generate. Since 85 percent of America’s energy needs come from fossil fuels, cap and trade would be massive tax on energy consumption if enacted. How high a tax?


The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis found that by 2035 gasoline prices would increase 58 percent, natural gas prices would increase 55 percent, home heating oil would increase 56 percent, and worst of all, electricity prices would jump 90 percent.


But the direct tax on household energy use is just the beginning. The energy tax also hits producers. As the higher production costs ripple through the economy, the household pocketbooks get hit again and again. When all the tax impacts have been added up, the average per-family-of-four costs rise by $2,979 per year. In the year 2035 alone, the cost is $4,609. And the costs per family for the whole energy tax aggregated from 2012 to 2035 are $71,493.

 

But just about everything we produce uses energy. As energy prices increase, those costs will be passed onto the consumer and reflected in the higher prices we pay for products. Higher energy prices also result in a slower economy, which means less production, higher unemployment and reduced income.


• Over the 2012-2030 timeline, job losses overage over 1.1 million. By 2035, a projected 2.5 million jobs are lost below the baseline (without a cap and trade bill).


• The average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) lost is $491 billion, hitting a high of $662 billion in 2035. From 2012-2035, the accumulated GDP lost is $9.4 trillion.


• The negative economic impacts accumulate, and the national debt is no exception. The increase in family-of-four debt, solely because of Waxman-Markey, hits an almost unbelievable $114,915 by 2035.


• The average of the climate tax revenue, what the government gets to spend or give away, is $236 billion from 2012 through 2035 and adds up to $5.7 trillion in tax collections.


In the name of saving our planet from “catastrophic global warming” for future generations, what we’re really doing is ensuring they live in a world with less opportunity and paying for our mistakes through increased debt, all for a change in the temperature too small to ever notice. All of these costs accrue in the first 25 years of a 90-year program that, as calculated by climatologists, will lower temperatures by only hundredths of a degree in 2050 and no more than two-tenths of a degree at the end of the century.