California, New York, Illinois, Ohio and New Jersey are seeking to increase the benefit of controlling greenhouse gas emissions by a factor of 4, according to a July 2 report in Carbon Control News.
The Department of Energy currently values the “damage” caused by CO2 emissions at $0 to $20 per ton. The states claim that this range is too low, especially since “damage” has already begun and suggest setting the damage level at $80 per ton.
As an example of how this would work, the DOE claims that its new lighting efficiency standards will reduce 800 million metric tons of carbon to yield about $9 billion in benefits. Under the states’ gimmick, the benefits of reducing emissions would balloon to about $40 billion.
Click here for the 42-page analysis by the states.
The reality, however, is that there is simply no evidence that manmade CO2 emissions cause any damage whatsoever — except, perhaps, for the dry cleaning bills of those unfortunates who open recently shaken soda cans and bottles.
Not surprisingly, the Obama administration said it is open to re-jiggering climate cost-benefit analysis, according to Carbon Control News.