Environmental regulations can boost economy through investment in clean tech and the jobs required to instal equipment. But I think the point we're missing is that not upgrading to cleaner energy systems costs American lives via air and water born toxins. I'm continually surprised at how little blow back we're getting from our fellow Americans.
"...the law had been a modest net creator of jobs through industry spending on technology to comply with it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/business/economy/a-debate-arises-on-job-creation-vs-environmental-regulation.html?_r=1
"For example, when the Environmental Protection Agency first proposed amendments to the Clean Air Act aimed at reducing acid rain caused by power plant emissions, the electric utility industry warned that they would cost $7.5 billion and tens of thousands of jobs. But the cost of the program has been closer to $1 billion, said Dallas Burtraw, an economist at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit research group on the environment. And the E.P.A., in a paper published this year, cited studies showing that the law had been a modest net creator of jobs through industry spending on technology to comply with it."
No comments:
Post a Comment