Activist and rentseeker groups have launched a campaign to fool the public into believing that EPA regulations are job creators. Let’s take a look.
Here are some of the examples included in the Ceres report “New Jobs — Cleaner Air Part II: An Investment in American Businesses and American Jobs“:
- Merrimack Station Wet Scrubber (New Hampshire). $457 million will provide 300 on-site construction jobs and “hundreds” of other upstream jobs. Assuming 300 upstream jobs, this works out to $761,667 per job.
- Brunner Island Wet Scrubber (Pennsylvania). $800 million added 30 permanent jobs and “employment opportunities for thousands of people over three years. Assuming 2,000 “employment opportunities”, this works out to $394,000 per job.
- Illinois. $7.6 billion will create 65,600 jobs — $115,853 per job.
- Massachusetts. $504 million will create 3,600 jobs — $140,000 per job.
- Michigan. $6.3 billion to create 48,000 jobs — $131,250 per job.
- Ohio. $7.1 billion to create 58,000 jobs — $122,413 per job.
- Pennsylvania. $4.7 billion to create 33,800 jobs — $139,053 per job.
There will be no public health or environmetal benefits from EPA’s air rules — none. These are costs that will be borne by ratepayers and taxpayers who will get no benefit from this activity. As these costs have no productive economic purpose, they are merely hidden taxes on the public and as such will further burden our economy.
Also note that Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are important swing states for the 2012 election.
Look for the Obama campaign and air pollution control industry to campaign on these jobs next year.
The Ceres ad is below.
That is $27.5 billion for 91,800 jobs. That $27.5 billion had to come from somewhere. My guess is that more than 91,800 people lost or did not get jobs because of these projects.