ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL WOULD SPAWN JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

Study: Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill Would Prompt Decade of Job Growth
Darren Samuelsohn, May 20, 2010 (NY Times)

"Senate climate legislation unveiled last week would spark a decade of multibillion-dollar investments to help overhaul how the nation produces and consumes energy, adding 200,000 jobs per year in the construction of new power plants and through greater demand for biofuels, according to [the nonpartisan Assessing the American Power Act: The Economic, Employment, Energy Security and Environmental Impact of Senator Kerry and Senator Lieberman’s Discussion Draft from the Peterson Institute for International Economics]…

"…[The report finds] that the bill from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) creates the new jobs between 2011 and 2020 because of its mandatory limits on greenhouse gases, which will prompt $41.1 billion in investments per year as the nation shifts away from traditional fossil fuels like coal and oil and toward new nuclear power and renewables."

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"That is $22.5 billion more than what the country would otherwise be spending on new electricity sector investments. But the economic boom could be short-lived. After 2025, as energy prices increase and certain industry-friendly provisions of the legislation phase out, employment gains would be "clawed back" to their current, business-as-usual projections.

"The Peterson Institute study marks the first comprehensive review of the Senate proposal…[It] differs from other analysis due out next month from U.S. EPA and EIA because it factors in how the Senate legislation would affect the U.S. economy at its current 10 percent unemployment rate, and by considering investments needed for an aging U.S. power system…[It reports that] the Kerry-Lieberman bill would prompt a significant reshuffle in U.S. energy supplies thanks to its greenhouse gas caps and many other complimentary policies, including stronger vehicle efficiency and renewable energy standards."

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"…[F]ossil fuels would fall from 84 percent of the current U.S. energy supply down to 70 percent in 2030…[R]enewables and nuclear energy would soar by 2030 from their current 8 percent rates for U.S. energy consumption, to 14 percent and 16 percent, respectively…[T]he Senate proposal would prompt 24 gigawatts of new renewable power generation over the next 20 years, with the majority in wind (58 percent), followed by biomass (23 percent) and solar (13 percent). By 2030, the report said renewables would account for 18 percent of all power generation capacity, up from 12 percent today, and 21 percent of all electricity production, up from 10 percent today.

"The bill would spawn 68 gigawatts of new nuclear power production due to $36 billion in loan guarantees and a 10 percent investment tax credit…Carbon capture and sequestration technologies also would get a boost from the Senate bill…[T]he nation would see 72 gigawatts of new CCS capacity installed between 2008 and 2030, with 53.7 gigawatts on coal-fired power plants and 18.3 gigawatts on natural gas plants…[E]fficiency upgrades and fuel switching to ethanol, biodiesel, natural gas and electricity would help reduce U.S. oil imports by 33 percent to 40 percent below current levels and 9 to 19 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2030…Prospects for the Kerry-Lieberman legislation remain unclear…"