In advance of Senator Boxer and Kerry’s release of their energy regulation bill tomorrow, two advance drafts were released today. [Boxer-Kerry Draft 1 is available here. Boxer-Kerry Draft 2 is available here.] From these drafts it appears that the Boxer-Kerry bill will dramatically increase regulation, provide new entitlements to politically-connected groups, and give corporate rent-seekers [...]

New analysis reveals cap-and-trade would provide windfall profits to politically connected firms, redistribute wealth

Who Benefits From Free Emission Allowances? (PDF 358 KB)
WASHINGTON – With Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) expected to reveal a draft of the Senate’s climate bill this week, free-market think tank Institute for Energy Research (IER) released a new [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 29, 2009
Contact:
Patrick Creighton 202.621.2947
Laura Henderson 202.621.2951
Main Street Under Cap-and-Trade Attack
Study confirms Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade redistributes wealth from lower, middle-class income earners to wealthiest, most politically-connected
WASHINGTON—As Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) are expected to release their version of a cap-and-trade global warming bill this week, the Institute for Energy Research (IER), [...]

The CBO has issued a new report [.pdf] that summarizes the economic effects of greenhouse-gas legislation, relying on previously published analyses. The report shows just how weak the case for the proposed cap-and-trade plan really is. In fact, the CBO demonstrates that the theoretical benefits of Waxman-Markey to the United States fall far short of [...]

On August 12 the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) released their study of the economic impacts of the pending Waxman-Markey bill. Proponents of Waxman-Markey hailed the study as showing the economic benefits of the bill. However, in actuality the ACCF/NAM study shows the opposite: Waxman-Markey will destroy American [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2009
Contact:
Patrick Creighton, 202.870.0850
Laura Henderson, 202.621.2951
ICYMI: Cold in the dark prospects
Federal energy policies spell shortages, rising prices
Washington Times
By: Thomas J. Pyle
August 10, 2009
“Energy prices certainly would surge under cap-and-trade. President Obama said so. His budget director said so. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said so. And most recently, the [...]

Just over a month ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey energy tax.[1] Much of the debate focused on how much the bill will cost Americans. For example, the Congressional Budget office claimed the cap and trade section of the bill would only cost $175 a year in 2020, but this claim has [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2009
Contact:
Patrick Creighton, 202.621.2947
Laura Henderson, 202.621.2951
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Lawmakers who believe that passage of cap-and-trade legislation will encourage China, India, Russia to follow suit suffer from language barrier

Senator John Kerry (D-MA):”Yes, we want more than promises from China – the world’s largest emitter must eventually accept binding reductions. But it [...]

The Obama Administration and European governments continue to lobby developing countries, such as India and China, to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. But India and China reject these calls because they understand that artificial restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions will harm their economies.
During her recent visit, India’s Environment Minister reminded Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [...]

In the world of Washington policymaking facts and figures are regularly thrown around to frame arguments in support of or against a particular policy. In the case of the Waxman-Markey energy tax, one such figure made a late-hour entry, gaining broad currency for its catchy tune and visual: the largest regulatory intervention in U.S. history, [...]