The Washington Post‘s Juliet Eilperin reported yesterday that “U.S. environmentalists are engaged in their most profound bout of soul-searching in more than a decade” and are planning to “redirect strategies” in the coming year. Faced with the failure of cap and trade and the defeat of “many of their political allies on both the state and federal level” the enviros are shifting focus away from “the toxic partisanship of Washington” and back to “the grass roots.” And just what type of grass roots activism will the left be pursuing at the local level? Eilperin reports:
The Sierra Club, meanwhile, is bolstering its long-standing campaign to block the construction of power plants across the country, assembling a team of 100 full-time employees to focus on the issue in 45 states.
Our national unemployment rate is 9.8% and the Sierra Club is investing their resources in blocking new power plan construction. The Sierra Club is blocking not only the jobs needed to build power plants, but they are also ensuring hiring energy costs for the entire economy. No wonder “many of their political allies on both the state and federal level” got shellacked at the polls last month.
But really, this strategy is no different than the one they pursued in Washington over the past two years. Both cap and trade and renewable energy standards, the two biggest environmentalist pushes on Capitol Hill, are premised on the same idea: decreasing carbon emissions by raising energy costs. As the Center for Data Analysis has documented both polices would kill millions of American jobs over the next 25 years.
According to the CDA, cap and trade would cause:
1) Net annual job losses of 1.9 million in 2012 and 2.5 million by 2035
2) Single-year GDP losses reaching $400 billion by 2025 and will exceeding $700 billion by 2035;
3) 90% higher household electric rates and 58% higher gas prices
According to the CDA, a renewable electricity standard would:
1) Raise electricity prices by 36 percent for households and 60 percent for industry;
2) Cut national income (GDP) by $5.2 trillion between 2012 and 2035;
3) Cut national income by $2,400 per year for a family of four;
4) Reduce employment by more than 1,000,000 jobs; and
5) Add more than $10,000 to a family of four’s share of the national debt by 2035.
