A manufacturing trade group has attempted to throw cold water on the Obama administration’s plans to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, warning that goals and methods recommended by the White House will significantly drive up energy costs, retard economic growth, and disproportionately affect manufacturers.
The Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI group, in a recent report, predicts a cap-and-trade program contained in President Obama’s budget blueprint would drive up the cost of gasoline by $1 to $2 per gallon as soon as 2012.
The Obama administration has called for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 14% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below 2005 levels by 2050. To get there, one of the methods the administration has proposed is a cap-and-trade program under which GHG emitters using fossil fuels would need to purchase permits. Under the plan, manufacturers and others would be allowed to buy and trade permits in an open market.
But, the MAPI report warns, the administration’s GHG reduction goals are so aggressive that the cost of permits would rise dramatically, increasing energy prices and threatening economic growth.