NO moron. He expanded their scope and abusiveness though.
Yep 2.4 Trillion we are going to suck out of the economy based on Obama's new guidelines to fight a phantom problem. On top of killing a ton of high paying jobs, and raising everyones energy prices.
The Environmental Protection Agencyâs climate rules aimed at phasing out coal-fired power in favor of low-carbon fuels will come at a high cost, according to a newly released report.
Over the next two decades, the EPAâs rules to fight global warming will cost the economy $2.23 trillion, raise energy prices and lower familiesâ incomes.
Using economic models based on the federal governmentâs National Energy Model System, the conservative Heritage Foundation found that, by the end of 2023, EPA climate regulations will cost the U.S. nearly 600,000 jobs and reduce a family of fourâs income by $1,200.
EPA rules would also raise energy prices and cost the economy $2.23 trillion from 2015 to 2038.
âHigher energy prices as a result of the regulations will squeeze both production and consumption. Since energy is a critical input for most goods and services, Americans will be hit repeatedly with higher prices as businesses pass higher costs onto consumers,â writes Nick Loris, a Heritage Foundation economist and co-author of the report.
âHowever, if a company had to absorb the costs, high energy costs would shrink profit margins and prevent businesses from investing and expanding,â Loris adds. âThe cutbacks result in less output, fewer new jobs, and less income.â
Last summer, President Obama unveiled his Climate Action Plan, which heavily relied on capping carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. Federal regulators moved quickly to craft rules that would limit power plant emissions, eventually publishing such a rule earlier this year.
Obama doubled down on his climate agenda this year, saying that he would continue his push to move the country away from fossil fuels and towards low-carbon energy.
âThe shift to a cleaner energy economy wonât happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way,â Obama said in his 2014 State of the Union Address. âBut the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our childrenâs children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say, âYes, we did.ââ
But the EPAâs power plant emissions limits faced intense criticism for setting emissions limits for new coal plants impossibly low, effectively banning them unless they used carbon capture and storage technology (CCS). Such technology, however, is not commercially proven and the only known projects in the U.S. are federally funded.
House Republicans have questioned the legality of requiring new coal plants use CCS, when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 specifically prohibits the EPA from using federally-funded projects to prove that a technology is commercially proven.
Read more:
http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/04/r...cost-the-economy-2-23-trillion/#ixzz390vWsACQ