President Obama doesn’t “have time for a meeting of the flat-Earth society.” And he probably considers you a member if you disagree with him on his crushing regulatory approach to climate change.
The heck of it is, the policies he advocates actually would not help the Earth.
Before Obama’s speech yesterday, Heritage’s Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow, Nicolas Loris, explained the President’s dilemma:
But let’s pretend we were able to stop emitting all carbon immediately. Forget the electricity to cool our homes in the summer months. Shut down the power plants. Stop driving our cars. No talking. The Science and Public Policy Institute found that the global temperature would decrease by 0.17 degrees Celsius—by 2100. These regulations are all pain no gain.
That’s what President Obama’s climate change plan would not do.
What President Obama’s climate change plan would do: increase the price of just about everything.
Whether it’s regulating appliances or eliminating coal from the nation’s energy diet, Obama’s plan has the same effect: hiking the cost of living.
Think through your day. Everything you buy, everything you eat, everything you wear… it was all produced using energy. Just a few of the things that will be more expensive under Obama’s plan:
- Heating and cooling your home
- Buying a car and driving—from your work commute to soccer practice and everywhere in between
- Turning on the lights
- Washing and drying clothes
But that’s not all. Think even bigger. What will it mean for President Obama’s war on coal to hike natural gas prices by 42 percent?
Sure, you may have a gas-powered furnace or oven. But natural gas is powering much more, as Heritage’s Loris, David Kreutzer, and Kevin Dayaratna explain:
Natural gas is not only a critical source of electricity generation; natural gas and other gases extracted from natural gas provide a feedstock for fertilizers, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, waste treatment, food processing, fueling industrial boilers, and much more.
From food processing to waste treatment—the entire cycle of life will cost more.
Of course, it doesn’t help that you will also have less income. Forthcoming research from these Heritage experts shows that Obama’s anti-coal policies will cause a family of four to lose more than $1,000 in annual income.
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