The Cost Of Cap And Trade By State
Here’s a chart, courtesy of the National Mining Association, of how much cap and trade, the Waxman-Markey Act (HR 2454), will cost (or in a few instances benefit) each state in the United States:
Based on the allowance allocation formula in H.R. 2454 for electricity consumers, the red states will not have enough allowancesto cover their emissions from electricity generation. The shortfall in allowances to the red states will lead to higher electricity costs for consumers, the total of which will roughly correlate with the dollar losses noted on the map. For example, Texas electricity consumers will see electricity costs go up by roughly $1 billion. To make up the shortfall, red states will have to seek high-cost, non-CO2 emitting electricity sources, reduce electricity production and consumption, or purchase allowances from the green states, or purchase domestic and international offsets, likely a combination of the three.
Obama said yesterday that only the polluters would pay for cap and trade. As it turns out, almost all of us are the polluters.
