Posted: 04/20/2005
EIA Report Ignores Global Warming, Earlier EIA Report
NCPA E-Team Scholars Say Limits Will Have No Effect
DALLAS (April 19, 2005) – The Energy Information Administration (EIA) claims in a recent report that limiting carbon dioxide (CO 2) and “greenhouse” gases will cost the U.S. economy approximately $10 billion per year. Scholars at the National Center for Policy Analysis say, however, that the cost may be far greater and emission limits may reduce the nation’s carbon intensity, yet not affect global warming.
“It’s throwing $10 billion down a black hole,” said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. “Carbon emissions will still grow, just at a slower rate. Domestic greenhouse gas legislation will do nothing to slow the predicted rise in temperatures and will require reduced energy use.”
Other respected economic analyses, including an earlier report by the EIA, show that the costs of either the Kyoto Protocol or proposed domestic greenhouse gas emissions legislation would cost more than $10 billion per year. For instance:
- A 2003 EIA report estimated that if the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act were implemented gross domestic product would be $675 billion to $1.63 trillion lower by 2025, in present dollars.
- A study by Dallas Federal Reserve Senior Economist Stephen Brown of the costs compliance with the Kyoto Accord estimates that U.S. GDP would be reduced by 3 percent to 4.3 percent in 2010, representing a loss of $275.2 billion to $394.4 billion or $921 to $1,320 per capita.
Charles River Associates also estimated that the McCain-Lieberman bill would reduce GDP would by $164 billion to $525 billion per year and cost more than more than 600,000 jobs that would be lost in the U.S.
“Americans, especially the poorest and weakest among us, will be expected to get by with less while the legislation will not to help the environment,” Dr. Burnett added. “It’s nothing more than a symbolic gesture to say ‘we’re doing something,’ and it’s an expensive one at that.”