I am proud to be organizing online for the Kansas Democratic Party!
Pitch Plog put it best:
U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback is spouting nonsense in an effort to denigrate a bill intended to halt climate change.
Looks like it's time for a midday fact check courtesy of Media Matters...
Claim:
Sen. Brownback: "A family of four would experience a $1,500 annual increase in direct energy cost." [Brownback address to KS Chamber of Commerce, 8/4/09]
The Truth:
The American Clean Energy and Security Act Would Cost Less Than A Quarter A Day
EIA: American Clean Energy And Security Act Would Cost Only $0.23 Per Day. According to a House Energy and Commerce Committee factsheet of the Energy Information Administration's analysis of the American Clean Energy and Security Act: "The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has completed an analysis of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), as passed by the U.S. House of Representatives... The overall impact on the average household, including the benefit of many of the energy efficiency provisions in the legislation, would be 23 cents per day ($83 per year). This is consistent with analyses by the Congressional Budget Office which projects a cost of 48 cents per day ($175 per year) and the Environmental Protection Agency which projects a cost of 22 to 30 cents per day ($80 to $111 per year)." [House Energy and Commerce Committee, EIA's Economic Analysis Of "The American Clean Energy And Security Act Of 2009," 8/4/09; emphasis original]
EIA: Many Provisions In ACES "Ameliorate The Adverse Impact On Households." According to analysis by the Energy Information Administration: "Several provisions in ACESA direct that the funds generated from emissions allowance auctions or the sale of freely allocated allowances be used to ameliorate the adverse impact on households. In addition to the funds generated for low-income households through the auctioning of 15 percent of the allowances allocated each year, local electricity and natural gas distribution companies are also directed to use freely allocated allowances to minimize the impact on residential energy consumers. These provisions, along with the energy efficiency programs such as building codes, partially shield residential consumers from significant increases in energy expenditures for uses inside the house." [Energy Information Administration, Energy Market and Economic Impacts of H.R. 2454, the ACESA of 2009, August 2009]
Claim:
Sen. Brownback: "... Most troubling is the loss of jobs that would result if cap-and-trade legislation is passed into law. A lot of Kansas jobs in the manufacturing, energy and agricultural industries will be dramatically affected, if not completely eliminated by this legislation." [Brownback address to KS Chamber of Commerce, 8/4/09]
The Truth:
The American Clean Energy and Security Act Would Create 17,000 Kansas Jobs
Kansas Will Gain 17,000 Jobs From An Investment In Clean Energy Technologies. According to the Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute, Sen. Brownback's home state of Kansas could see "net increase of about $1.4 billion in investment revenue and 17,000 jobs based on its share of a total of $150 billion in clean-energy investments annually across the country. This is even after assuming a reduction in fossil fuel spending equivalent to the increase in clean energy investments." [Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute, Clean Energy Investment Create Jobs In Every State, 6/17/09]
Investment In Clean Energy Technology Will Create Over 1.7 Million American Jobs. According to the Center for American Progress: "Investments in a clean-energy economy will generate major employment benefits for the entire U.S. economy. Our research finds that spending $150 billion on clean-energy investments would create roughly 1.7 million jobs. This is even after assuming a reduction in fossil fuel spending equivalent to the increase in clean-energy investments." [Center for American Progress, The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy, 6/17/09]
Every Single State Will Gain Jobs From An Investment In Clean Energy Technologies. According to the Center for American Progress, investments in clean energy projects would create 1.7 million American jobs in every state in the country. [Center for American Progress, The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy, 6/17/09]
Investment in Clean Energy Technology Creates FOUR TIMES As Many Jobs As An Investment In Oil & Gas. According to the Center for American Progress, "spending $1 million on energy efficiency and renewable energy produces a much larger expansion of employment than spending the same amount on fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Among fossil fuels, job creation in coal is about 32 percent greater than that for oil and natural gas. The employment creation for energy efficiency-retrofitting and mass transit-is 2.5 times to four times larger than that for oil and natural gas. With renewable energy, the job creation ranges between 2.5 times to three times more than that for oil and gas." [Center for American Progress, The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy, 6/17/09]
Investment In Renewable Energy Has Already Salvaged Many Manufacturing Facilities Closed During Economic Downturn. Across America, factories and plants abandoned by the old economy have been re-tooled and re-opened to satisfy the growing demand for new energy technologies. For instance, once hopeless manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Michigan have re-energized their communities by creating jobs and leading the charge toward a new energy future. [Bloomberg, 4/2/09; Star Tribune, 4/22/09; Grand Rapids Press, 3/6/08]