The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report developed in response to a request by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) evaluating the effect that the 25% renewable requirement, contained in the global warming bill now being considered by Congress, will have on electricity prices. The report found that there will be about a 2.9% increase in the cost of electricity around 2025, dropping down to about 1% by 2030 and after.
Two of the big objections to the bill (and in fact objections to taking any far-reaching actions to combat global warming now) are that the current economic situation cannot afford such measures and, relatedly, that it will hurt business interests. (In fact, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IA) said that the cap-and-trade provisions of the bill, which would cap the level of greenhouse gas emissions that polluters can produce and create a market-based system trading scheme for the right to emit greenhouse pollutants, were “an economic declaration of war on the Midwest.”) The EIA report directly undermines those arguments, albeit in the particular context of mandating renewables. The reality is that we have to act now. Arguments such as these should be seen for what they are—scare tactics aimed at delaying progress in the effort to combat global warming.
Yea, just keep telling yourself that, besides legislation is going down in flames because gutless Democrats don’t have the balls to vote for it. To bad.