The cost of reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and creating a clean energy economy could come to as little 22 cents a day for American households, according to top Obama administration officials. The comments came as Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson testified in support of federal climate change legislation before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Tuesday. Last month, the House of Representatives voted to pass The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, or “ACES”. Now it is the Senate’s turn to come its own version of the bill.
“Opponents of this effort claim the nation cannot afford to act at this time. I disagree, and so do the Environmental Protection Agency and the Congressional Budget Office,” Chu testified. “These organizations estimate that meeting the greenhouse gas targets in the House bill can be achieved at an annual cost between 22 cents and 48 cents per day per household in 2020. That’s about the price of a postage stamp per day.”
“I do not mean to say that we can get something for nothing,” Jackson stated. “But according to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the net cost to the average American household in 2020 would be less than 50 cents a day.”
Other administration officials testifying at the hearing, “Moving America Toward a Clean Energy Economy and Reducing Global Warming Pollution: Legislative Tools”, included Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack and Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar. They urged members of the committee to view federal climate legislation as an opportunity to create new green jobs and make America a leader in the global clean energy economy.
