Real Costs of Global Warming Policies

Paul Chesser, Climate Strategies Watch

The Beacon Hill Institute, the economics think tank that has written peer reviews of global warming policy recommendations coming out of the state climate commissions (as advanced by the Center for Climate Strategies), has now done some of their own analysis — for North Carolina. The results are pretty ugly and contradict the economic fantasy promoted by CCS and the NC Climate Action Plan Advisory Group:

North Carolina would lose more than 33,000 jobs and face a $4.5 billion hit to its Gross State Product by 2011, if lawmakers adopt just a fraction of the policies under consideration now to address climate change. A Boston-based economist who has analyzed the policy proposals will deliver that message Tuesday to a legislative study group.

The policies studied also would cost the state more than $502 million in investment, lower real disposable income by $2.2 billion, and reduce state and local revenue by more than $184 million, said David Tuerck, chairman of the Suffolk University Department of Economics and executive director of the department’s research arm, the Beacon Hill Institute. Tuerck is scheduled to testify to the N.C. Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change during its meeting 11 a.m. Tuesday in Raleigh.

The climate commission is considering 56 policy proposals developed by the Climate Action Plan Advisory Group. The proposals aim to limit global warming by cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Supporters contend those policy proposals would help North Carolina’s economy. A report from the Appalachian State University Energy Center suggests the policies would generate more than 300,000 jobs by 2020 and boost Gross State Product by nearly $1.5 billion.

Tuerck explains further CCS's and ASU's disconnect from reality here, for the John Locke Foundation.