12 June 2015

In the News
Scared Witless: Prophets and Profits of Climate Doom
Robert Bradley, Jr., Master Resource, 12 June 2015
Inhofe: Were Winning the Global Warming Debate
Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, 11 June 2015
Attacks on Skeptics Do a Disservice to Scientists and Their Profession
Anthony J. Sadar, Washington Times, 10 June 2015
Why the Left Needs Climate Change
Steven Hayward, Forbes, 9 June 2015
Ex-Im Is Not the Key to Nuclear Industrys Competitiveness
Jack Spencer & Katie Tubb, The Daily Signal, 9 June 2015
A Climate Campaigner (Bill McKibben) and Climate Change Critic (Anthony Watts) Meet in a
Bar
Andrew Revkin, Dot Earth, 8 June 2015
Global Warming: The Theory That Predicts Nothing and Explains Everything
Robert Tracinski, The Federalist, 8 June 2015
NOAA Plays Hide the Pause
James Delingpole, Big Government, 5 June 2015
Harvard Researchers Caught Lying To Boost EPA Climate Rule
Steve Milloy, Breitbart, 4 June 2015

News You Can Use

Study: EPAs Clean Power Plans Disparate Impact on
Minorities
According to a study published this week by the National Black Chamber of Commerce, EPAs
Clean Power Plan would cause cumulative job losses for blacks and Hispanics of roughly 7
million and 12 million, respectively, over the next 20 years. Over the same time period, black
families can expect their annual incomes to fall by $455, while Hispanics will take home $515
less per year.

Inside the Beltway

William Yeatman

AEI Carbon Tax Event: Niskanen Center Puts Its Cards on the
Table (and its a terrible hand)
On Wednesday afternoon, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a debate on the merits of a
carbon tax between Niskanen Centers Jerry Taylor and AEIs Benjamin Zycher. Video is
available here.
For some time now, Taylor has been trying to convince conservatives to embrace a carbon tax.
Originally, his case for the carbon tax was based on a hypothetical political compromise. That is,
he urged conservatives to embrace a carbon tax as a bargaining chip that could be traded for a
relaxation of EPAs climate regulations. There are a lot of holes in this thesis, and Taylors line
of reasoning has proved unsteady, as has been expertly explained by Robert Murphy at the
Institute for Energy Research.
Evidently, Taylors original thesis (i.e., trading a carbon tax to stop EPA rules) does not
withstand scrutiny well, because he ditched that argument during his presentation on
Wednesday. Instead, he focused on the conservative appeal of a carbon tax implemented as
the centerpiece of a prudent risk mitigation strategy.
Implausibly, Taylor claimed to have divined the precise odds of catastrophic climate change.
According to Taylor, there is a 10 percent chance of climate change causing temperature
increases of 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 on a business-as-usual trajectory. To be fair, he
conceded some uncertainty: He said that the chance of an unimaginable disaster may be 8
percent or 12 percent.
Wednesdays debate was the first Id heard that theres a 10 percent chance of climate
catastrophe by 2100, and Im skeptical of its worth as a fact on which public policy should be
rendered. Moreover, it strikes me as being alarmist even by the hyperbolic standards shared by
Joe Romm and his ilk on the eco-freak fringe.
There are other problems with Taylor's argument. For example, he couches his risk
management proposal in the familiar terms of hedging and insurance in the financial sector.
Such a comparison is, however, inapposite. Given our near total reliance on fossil fuels, the only
way to fight global warming is to completely transform the global economy. Anything short of
that won't save us. So were not talking about insuring our position within the current market;
rather, were talking about completely remaking the current market. Those are markedly
difference risk management strategies.
Another problem with his reasoning is that the putative danger undercuts the impetus for his
grand political bargain. If we face a certain 10 percent chance of catastrophe, wouldnt that
warrant EPA regulations, in addition to a carbon tax? There are other problems with his
argument, foremost among them being his unwillingness to proffer a price, which is no small
component of his plan.
To recap: Jerry Taylors original argument for a carbon taxthat it could be traded for a
rescission of EPA climate rulesseems to have gone by the wayside, likely due to the
effectiveness of criticisms leveled by IERs Robert Murphy. On Wednesday, at an AEIsponsored debate, Taylor presented his new and improved argumentthat its a moral and
ethical imperative for conservatives to support a carbon tax as a mitigation strategy, because

there is a 10 percent chance (maybe 8 percent, maybe 12 percent) that climate change will be
catastrophic. For the reasons I set forth above, his new focus is no less unreasonable than the
original.
Taylors opponent, Benjamin Zycher, did a great job, to no ones surprise. Michael Bastasch
penned an excellent write-up of the event, available here.

D.C. Circuit Court Disappoints (but there is a silver lining)

On Tuesday, a three judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge
brought by industry and 15 States to check EPAs Clean Power Plan. The court ruled that the
challenge was premature, because the rule hasnt yet been finalized. Because the judges ruled
on jurisdictional grounds, the court did not tip its hand regarding the merits of the petitioners
challenge to the rule, which was based on the argument that EPA lacks the authority to issue
the Clean Power Plan. (For more on the merits of the case, see here and here.)
EPA is expected to publish the final rule in august. Thereafter, opponents of the Clean Power
Plan will seek a stay of the regulation, the success of which would be based in part on the
likelihood of their winning on the merits. The D.C. Circuit likely would render a decision whether
or not to stay the regulation in late fall or early winter.
While Tuesdays ruling was a disappointment, environmental lawyer Brian Potts points to a
possible silver lining. In an excellent Forbes op-ed published on Thursday, Potts notes that
under the D.C. Circuit Courts rules, theres a substantial likelihood that the same panel of
judges that heard Tuesdays case will adjudicate the next challenge. This bodes well for
opponents of the rule, as the three judges are all known to be sensitive to EPA overreach.