The Post & Email by Paul Driessen 3/14/2021
BANNING CARBON-BASED FUELS WILL IMPOSE ENORMOUS COSTS THAT TEAM BIDEN DELIBERATELY IGNORESFearing that incessant warnings about manmade climate cataclysms would not be enough to end US fossil fuel use, the Obama-Biden Administration instructed a special Interagency Working Group to concoct a “social cost of carbon†concept. The SCC would “scientifically†calibrate the dollar value of damages that a ton of carbon dioxide emitted today in America would inflict on the USA and world in the future.
The price tag was set at $22/ton in 2010, raised to $36/ton in 2013, and just as arbitrarily increased to $40, before finishing the Obama era at $51/ton. President Trump disbanded the IWG and had the SCC slashed to less than $10/ton. Within hours of taking office, President Biden resurrected the working group, reinstituted $51/ton as a starting point, and directed federal agencies to devise a definitive SCC by 2022.
This “updated†version will reflect “recent developments in the science and economics†of climate change, including the costs of other greenhouse gases,
the White House said. It will also factor in US commitments under the Paris climate treaty, and especially “considerations of environmental justice and intergenerational equity.†Climate “scientists,†economists, “ethics experts†and “diverse stakeholders†will all participate in the process, which many expect will devise a final SCC of $100 or even $200/ton.
The IWG methodology for developing SCC estimates is so infinitely flexible, so devoid of any rigorous standards, that it could produce almost any estimates that Biden and his climate czars feel is needed. Adding “justice†and “equity†to the mix makes it doubly malleable, doubly prone to abuse by an administration and Democrat Party that are obsessed with “manmade climate change†(even Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Defense appointees must be committed to ending the “climate crisisâ€) and are determined to make America “carbon neutral†by 2050.
Social cost of carbon is intended to advance that agenda and a 981-page “CLEAN Future†bill requiring that electricity generators provide 80% carbon-free energy by 2030 and 100% “clean†power by 2035.
Right now, over 80% of all US and global energy comes from fossil fuels – and China, India and other countries are building thousands of new coal-fired power plants, on top of the thousands they already have. So even total cancellation of fossil fuel use and CO2/greenhouse gas emissions by the United States would be imperceptible and irrelevant amid the world’s enormous and increasing levels of both.
More:
https://www.thepostemail.com/2021/03/14/the-social-costs-of-carbon-cancellation/
