In its work on global climate change issues, AEA will urge that public policy, particularly in the environmental arena, be based upon objective science, not emotion or improbable scenarios that invite wealth-reducing government activism, which often impairs society’s resilience to change. Irrational anxiety on the part of policymakers could lead to poor outcomes, such as an increased tax burden and a decline in America’s international commercial competitiveness.
Specifically, AEA seeks to raise awareness of the negatives of overly burdensome regulation such as the new advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on carbon (“ANPR”), which was recently released by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). This proposal is the most sweeping and pervasive expansion of EPA authority to date; it allows the EPA to potentially regulate 85% of our nation’s energy usage. Under the ANPR, essentially anything with a motor could be regulated by the EPA. This over-regulation will result in higher prices for energy and as the items that consume it, while having little effect on the global temperature because of the growing amount of greenhouse gasses produced by the developing world.
AEA takes the position that many current climate change proposals are needlessly costly. For instance, the EPA estimates that the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (“Lieberman-Warner”) would result in a $238 billion to $983 billion reduction of our nation’s GDP by 2030. A significant portion of this burden will likely be borne by taxpayers through higher energy prices.
