MacIver News Service | June 26, 2019
MADISON — The MacIver Institute joins 10 other free market organizations around the country in support of the Trump administration’s final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. The new federal rule is a commonsense replacement for the disastrous and costly Obama-era Clean Power Plan.
The letter states in part: “All Americans would have been harmed by the Obama administration’s legally flawed Clean Power Plan. It would have dramatically increased the cost of electricity and was predicted to reduce global warming by only 0.018 degrees Celsius by 2100, an amount far too small to be measured … Thanks to the Trump administration’s commonsense approach, emissions have fallen by 28 percent since 2017 and are forecast to be reduced 35 percent by 2030. At a compliance cost of $0.3 billion for the ACE rule, these gains were at 250 times less cost than the previous administration’s alternative.”
The MacIver Institute is joined by the Caesar Rodney Institute, the Center of the American Experiment, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Independence Institute, John Locke Foundation, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, the Rio Grande Foundation, and the Roughrider Policy Center in supporting the ACE.
The full letter follows and can be downloaded here:
The Trump administration’s finalized Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule is a major victory for America’s middle class, many of whom work in energy intensive industries like manufacturing and mining. It also represents a boon to America’s least fortunate for whom energy costs represent a significant part of their budget. All Americans would have been harmed by the Obama administration’s legally flawed Clean Power Plan. It would have dramatically increased the cost of electricity and was predicted to reduce global warming by only 0.018 degrees Celsius by 2100, an amount far too small to be measured.
After Congress rejected proposed cap and trade legislation, the Obama administration crafted the Clean Power Plan to force states into regional cap and trade plans. President Trump’s plan disallows such plans for compliance and focuses, instead, on improving the efficiencies of individual plants.
The Clean Power Plan claimed to seek a 32% reduction in CO2 emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, at an estimated compliance cost of $9 billion. The US Chamber of Commerce estimated a more realistic $75 billion in compliance costs. The Rule was met with bipartisan opposition by 27 states who won a Supreme Court stay of the Rule in 2016.
The Clean Power Plan was also completely unnecessary. Thanks to the Trump administration’s commonsense approach, emissions have fallen by 28% since 2017 and are forecast to be reduced 35% by 2030. At a compliance cost of $0.3 billion for the ACE rule, these gains were at 250 times less cost than the previous administration’s alternative.