The EPA’s regulations on greenhouse gases will reduce family income, decrease GDP and ultimately shrink the job market come, according to new research from the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The goal of the new regulation is to reduce carbon emissions, in part by implementing cap-and-trade measures at the state level to cut down on carbon emissions from working power plants.
Average income for a family of four would decrease by an estimated $1,200, Heritage estimates. GDP would drop $2.23 trillion, and 600,000 jobs would be lost, according to projections.
Heritage also reported that an estimated 80 percent of American’s energy demand comes directly from carbon-emitting fuels. Regulating the existing plants would put pressure on these companies, and the consequences would be passed on to consumers, according to the research.
An additional Heritage analysis shows that this will have a devastating impact on low-income families and force 300,000 job losses in the manufacturing sector — especially in the Midwest.
The president seems fully aware of the imminent impacts. Back in 2008, Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,” Obama said. “Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”
On the surface, the EPA regulations seek to cut carbon emissions, thereby reducing the alleged effects of anthropogenic global warming. Similar cap and trade offers have come up in the past. American infamously refused to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, yet met the proposed emissions goal before most developed nations.
UPDATE: In an email to The Daily Caller, an EPA spokeswoman pushed back on the Heritage report, saying that coal production will be in “more than 30 percent of our energy mix.” In addition, the EPA insists the new rule will instead lower the cost of electricity bills by 8 percent by 2030 and permit flexibility among the states.