Climate Regulations a Job Killer? Quit Crying Wolf

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:




Climate Regulations a Job Killer? Quit Crying Wolf
Over and over, the regulations that the Chamber of Commerce says will be catastrophic have become the basic safeguards we take for granted.

by Donald Cohen
posted Jul 11, 2011


There’s an old adage that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. That seems to be the unofficial motto of the United States Chamber of Commerce, which has spent the last forty years repeating (and repeating and repeating) the mantra that government regulations on businesses “kill jobs” and economic growth. But their predictions have been repeatedly wrong. The laws they warned would bring economic ruin have become the basic health, safety, and environmental safeguards we now take for granted.

The Chamber’s latest goal is to prevent implementation of regulations to limit greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants (as mandated by the Supreme Court). Republican proposals to eliminate the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gasses failed in the Senate. Now they are focused on the Obama administration to thwart the EPA’s rule making process. The EPA recently proposed several regulations to address greenhouse gases, toxic emissions, and other pollutants from power plants.

The Chamber is hoping that in these hard economic times, Americans’ concern about jobs will scare them into believing that rules to limit global warming will stifle job growth. But their rhetoric is the same when the economy is humming. Whether unemployment is high or low, the Chamber and its business allies have opposed every significant step towards a more sustainable, healthier future. They opposed the Kyoto treaty, the Clean Air Act, auto emission standards, Renewable Portfolio Standards, the Clean Water Act, removing lead from gasoline and more. They justify their opposition by claiming that these rules will kill jobs. And they are wrong every time.

Let’s take a closer look at the last significant legislation tackling air pollution: the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. It was a far-reaching bill that tightened pollution standards from autos and trucks as well as polluting industries. It created new rules requiring cleaner gasoline and diesel fuel and new standards to reduce toxic air pollutants. It also launched the Acid Rain Program, a cap and trade system limiting the production of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/climate-regulations-a-job-killer-quit-crying-wolf