In my Weekly Standard article out today on the EPA’s so-called “Clean Power Plan,” I note one of the more curious and significant changes from the original draft rule of a year ago and the final rule released on Monday of this week: namely that the fourth “building block” for state compliance—energy conservation/efficiency measures—was dropped from the rule. Here’s the key part of the argument as summarized in the article:
This change involves environmentalists having to undergo an embarrassing
about-face and recognize that one of their favorite slogans isn’t true. For
years environmentalists have promoted energy conservation measures for
buildings and homes with the claim that such improvements “paid for themselves”
and were more cost-effective than building new power plants……But there’s a
growing body of economic research going back more than 15 years that finds the
conservation claims to be exaggerated, when they are not completely wrong……
So guess who latched on to this
analysis? Environmentalists! Because they had to confront that their own
favorite talking point could undermine their drive to kill coal. But it also
offers more evidence (as if more is necessary) that environmentalists will
simply lie or at the very least ignore any evidence that gets in the way of
their clichés and near-term goals. “Conservation” was great when you could use
it to oppose any new power plants at all, but not so great if it might impede
your drive to kill coal.....To Read More....
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