ProgressOhio

As a credentialed observer at the Copenhagen climate negotiations, I'm appalled to see Senator Voinovich resort to baseless claims regarding the cost of cutting carbon emissions.  Speaking of the 2020 target of 17 percent emissions cuts called for in House legislation, Voinovich states that "the economic costs of this policy could exceed $1 trillion, costing households more than $1000 annually and pushing gasoline prices as high as $4 a gallon."  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis came up with an cost figure nearly fifty times lower than the number Voinovich offers, and an average household cost amounting to less than a postage stamp per day. 

Voinovich also ignores the huge economic boost we could get from investing in clean energy technologies. A  report from the labor and environmental coalition Blue-Green Alliance and the Renewable Energy Policy Project estimated more than 850,000 manufacturing jobs could be created across the United States, tens of thousands of them here in Ohio.  We can also create thousands of jobs weatherizing homes and buildings and taking other common-sense cost-saving measures.

A December USA Today/Gallup poll shows that a solid majority of Americans favor a binding global agreement to reduce carbon emissions.  If anything, the best current science shows that a 17 percent cut in emissions by 2020 is far too modest a goal if we're going to prudently protect our environment from the worst risks of climate change.  We have the technical capacity to do much better.  We also have a right to expect our senators to make decisions based on the best analyses.  Seeing Senator Voinovich serve up industry lobbyists' warmed-over PR pieces is disappointing.