The recent agreement by 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic state governors to begin the formal process of implementing a job-killing Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) this drawing major criticism from policymakers and experts that understand that such scheme will lead to higher prices at the pump for struggling consumers and a deeper, more dangerous dependence on unstable regions of the world to meet our nation’s energy needs.
Maryland Delegate Richard Sossi – a member of the Environmental Matters Committee – recently expressed his concerns with this LCFS in a Star-Democrat column. In his piece entitled “Maryland comes out far worse under an LCFS,” Delegate Sossi – whose Eastern Shore district encompasses Caroline, Cecil, Kent & Queen Anne’s Counties – writes:
Remarkably, with gasoline and home heating prices currently the highest they’ve been all year, 10 Northeast and mid-Atlantic states joined Maryland last month down the treacherous road of implementing a future LCFS. In each case, the governors who signed this pact cited the LCFS as a “market-based” approach to lowering the carbon content of fuel – a policy that is undeniably attractive, notwithstanding the scientific fact that it, as it’s presently being sold to the public, cannot and will not be accomplished.
Of course, what will be accomplished, and rather quickly, is that the existing network that Maryland depends upon to access its energy will be fundamentally reshaped – and certainly not for the better. The good news, if there is any, is that this ship has not yet permanently sailed: Maryland still has time to consider these implications, and, as of this writing, still has time to back away from the agreement our governor signed in the waning hours of 2009.
And in Wisconsin, Scott Manley of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) took to the pages of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to highlight the devastating economic effects associated the LCFS legislation that was recently introduced. In a column entitled “Global warming bill kills state jobs,” Manley writes:
The so-called Low Carbon Fuel Standard would cost Wisconsin motorists more than $3.2 billion in higher gas prices … tax could cost consumers as much as 61 cents per gallon.
All told, these expensive policies are projected to cost each Wisconsin family more than $1,000 each year by the time they are fully implemented. Worse yet, the supporters of this misguided bill have not identified any meaningful benefit that would be achieved relative to global temperatures or climate.
Wisconsin families cannot afford these tremendously expensive policies given our current recession and fragile economy. Wisconsin has the single-most manufacturing-intensive economy in the country. Our family-supporting manufacturing jobs pay an average wage of $62,959 – more than 35% higher than the state average. Unfortunately, we already have lost 160,000 manufacturing jobs in the past decade, including 60,000 jobs lost since 2008 alone.
In fact, last month the WMC and 23 of the state’s largest business groups, representing contractors, homebuilders and retailers, wrote Gov. Doyle and legislative leaders detailing their concerns about this proposal, including the LCFS provision. Here’s a key excerpt from that letter:
The proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard would increase costs to Wisconsin motorists by an additional $3.279 billion by 2020.
Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). Another California idea that makes little sense for Wisconsin is adopting a California-type LCFS aimed at restricting our use of Canadian oil. Unlike California, Wisconsin relies on Canadian crude oil to produce the majority of our transportation fuel. By raising costs an estimated $3.3 billion for motorists, a LCFS will hit Wisconsin consumers at a time when we can least afford it.
Hopefully the governors in the Mid-West, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic that are currently considering an LCFS – as well as leaders in Washington – will consider these facts. In order to stop LCFS policies, it is critical that concerned policymakers and consumers continue to send Congress the message that an LCFS will kill American jobs, increase greenhouse gas emissions, deepen our dependence on unstable regions of the world and drive prices at the pump even higher.
[...] While the fight in California is far from over, it is clear that the threat still exists with many states and regions across the nation that are working to pass LCFS proposals, including policymakers in Washington, D.C., the Mid-West, the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic. [...]