State By State Costs Of EPA Carbon Regulations Revealed

A recent study by the right-leaning Heritage Foundation found the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed greenhouse gas regulations would create:

• An average employment shortfall of nearly 300,000 jobs;
• A peak employment shortfall of more than 1 million jobs;
• A 500,000 job loss in the manufacturing industry;
• A loss of more than $2.5 trillion (inflation-adjusted) in aggregate gross domestic product; and
• A total income loss of more than $7,000 (inflation-adjusted) per person.

Last week, the foundation released a state-by-state analysis of the rules. (The new data also includes a review of the rules by Congressional district.) Eight states – Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wisconsin – would lose more than four percent of their manufacturing workforce. Ten states – California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin – would each lose more than 20,000 manufacturing jobs, with California losing the most (65,360). 

The Heritage Foundation findings are in addition to studies by NERA Economic Consulting, which found the rules would cost up to $71 billion to comply with, and by Energy Ventures Analysis, which estimated together the rules would increase power and gas by 40 percent. Additionally last week, the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council issued a report that said the EPA’s plans are a “clear threat” to the reliability of the nation’s electricity grid. 

As a reminder, in testimony on Capitol Hill, EPA officials have also said the agency’s proposed rules would have no real effect greenhouse gas levels in the U.S.