Biden Crafts a Climate Plan B
Climate change, the rise of dangerous superstorms and the impacts of climate-driven disasters like Hurricane Florence, in all their ugliness, deserve an honest conversation.
One way our government could tackle the challenge of climate change is to raise energy prices, demonize an industry, put a thumb on the scale to raise other industries, force Americans to accept sacrifice in lieu of action, and so on.
Who are the beneficiaries of this plan? Who gets to deal with the consequences of the policies under consideration?
Biden Crafts a Climate Plan B
Better to raise energy prices, demonize an industry, put a thumb on the scale to raise other industries, force Americans to accept sacrifice in lieu of action, and so on.
Nowhere in the world is the government giving fossil fuel industries a free pass to pollute.
Biden Crafts a Climate Plan B
The benefits of these policies include a fight against climate change: An Arctic Ocean covered in ice in the summer.
And there are benefits for the citizens of the United States: There are over 7 million people on a waiting list to get a job because many leading companies have moved to low-cost jurisdictions in other countries.
There are economic dividends: The average cost of recovery for someone’s loss as a result of an EF4 tornado in Arkansas was $63,678.30 – much, much less than the $800,000 cost of an EF5 tornado in Mexico or the $250,000 to $320,000 cost of an EF3 tornado in Maine.
There are economic dividends: The average cost of recovery for someone’s loss as a result of an EF4 tornado in Arkansas was $63,678.30 – much, much less than the $800,000 cost of an EF5 tornado in Mexico or the $250,000 to $320,000 cost of an EF3 tornado in Maine.
Anyone who questions the economic benefits of climate-change policy might do well to review this list of annual averages of damages from major storms for the United States as reported by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.
The cost for Louisiana is $1,644,572 per major storm.
In Illinois, the cost is $534,899 per major storm.
In Texas, the cost is $3,158,957 per major storm.
In Michigan, the cost is $5,149,221 per major storm.
The cost in Colorado is $142,399 per major storm.
In South Carolina, the cost is $1,162,014 per major storm.
For Washington, the cost is $11,718,685 per major storm.
As someone who has no doubt advocated policies that are costly to some, I acknowledge these costs and have no doubt the benefits of policies, if implemented, that promote a healthy environment and an orderly transition to cleaner technologies.
My plan is not to demonize or appease polluters or to present a wholesale change in our energy policy. The plan is not to pick one business over another. The plan is not to pick one idea over another.
My plan is rather to move forward with a smart, straightforward plan of action that accomplishes our best interests and does not place the burden on business.
My plan is pragmatic in that it does not pre-empt the need for or impinge on the rights of states to make their own decisions on how best to proceed. This is essential as it will keep our government and policies on the right track in a determined effort to lessen the damage to the climate caused by human activity.
However, to do nothing means another year of destructive events like Hurricane Florence, more floods, more heat waves, and other deadly and destructive events that will cost society tens of billions of dollars, keep our people uninsured in a condition of increasing vulnerability to climate shocks, and limit our economic growth.
Biden Crafts a Climate Plan B
