STANFORD, Calif., March 1, 2011—Dan Reicher, executive director of Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, today testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power in a hearing on “EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Regulations and Their Effect on American Jobs.”

The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY). According to the hearing announcement:

“Studies have estimated that a cap-and-trade national energy tax would result in millions of lost jobs and higher energy costs to consumers, without any environmental benefit.”

Full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Whitfield have coauthored draft legislation, The Energy Tax Prevention Act, “to clarify that the Clean Air Act was never intended to be used to impose cap-and-trade by regulation.”

This hearing was held to consider the proposed legislation.

Ranking member Henry A. Waxman and Democratic members of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, sent a letter to Chairman Ed Whitfield requesting at least one additional day of hearings on the subject of EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations to hear from climate scientists:

“We believe it is essential that the Subcommittee hear from our nation’s leading scientific experts. At the Subcommittee’s first hearing, Senator James Inhofe told the Subcommittee that he believes climate change is a ‘hoax.’ We believe the members should have the opportunity to hear from top scientists on this subject and the implications of inaction before we are asked to vote on legislation premised on the assertion that carbon pollution is harmless.”

Professor Reicher was one of several witnesses (see full list below).

He made two key points:

“First, controlling U.S. carbon emissions – along with other policy and investment measures to address climate change and advance clean energy technology – is critical to our nation’s economy, security, health, and environmental quality.

Second, experience over the last few decades makes clear that well designed environmental and energy regulation, far from being an economic drag, can spur U.S. innovation, enhance competitiveness, and cut development and operating costs.”

Dan Reicher’s full written testimony is available in PDF format here.

WITNESS LIST

Panel 1
Mr. Mike Carey
President
Ohio Coal Association

Mr. Paul Cicio
President
Industrial Energy Consumers of America

Mr. Hugh A. Joyce
President
James River Air Conditioning Company, Inc.

Mr. Forrest McConnell
President
McConnell Honda & Acura

Mr. W. David Montgomery
Vice President
Charles River Associates

Professor Dan Reicher
Executive Director
Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance
Professor of Law
Stanford Law School

Panel 2
Ms. Gina A. McCarthy
Assistant Administrator
Office of Air and Radiation
United States Environmental Protection Agency

March 2, 2011 Update:

The Christian Science Monitor’s Mark Clayton covered Reicher’s testimony. He filed this story: Is EPA greenhouse-gas plan a job killer? History might offer clues.

…History throws doubt on claims of massive job losses from air-pollution regulation, say economists who have studied the issue for years.

“Experience since the 1970s – from air-pollution controls to appliance-efficiency standards to auto fuel-economy rules – makes clear that well conceived and executed carbon regulation will not only stimulate technological innovation but can be implemented cost effectively and in many cases lead to actual decreases in the purchase, installation, and operating costs of key technologies,” Dan Reicher, executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance at Stanford University, told the committee.

China, Germany, Japan and others are all now committed to controlling carbon emissions through various means and “have grown a massive clean energy industry – measured in the trillions of dollars and millions of jobs – that was once led by the US,” Dr. Reicher said.