This may sound crazy, but before adopting any type of policy, a
cost-benefit analysis should show that there is at least the slightest
possibility of a benefit.

NC should bear this in mind as some leaders argue that the state needs
to take tougher steps to reduce CO2 emissions, which allegedly will
help reduce global warming.  As JLF’s Dr. Roy Cordato has argued
in a recent Spotlight,
the Kyoto Protocol, even with 100% compliance by its original
signatories, would only reduce warming by 0.18 and 0.37 degrees–and
this would be by the year 2100 (just a few years out).  How then
can NC make any difference at all?

Now, it appears that full compliance is a pipedream and Kyoto could be dead in a matter of years. As stated in this recent National Center for Public Policy Research article
“New data by the EU’s own European Environmental Agency show that by
2010, the 15 nations’ emissions collectively will exceed 1990 levels by
seven percent.”  These are the same EU countries that think the
U.S. needs to sign onto the treaty.

So, in return for failing to reduce emissions (no benefit), they get the following costs:

“According to the Brussels economic research organization
International Council for Capital Formation (ICCF), the UK’s gross
domestic product will fall more than 1 percent in 2010 from what it
otherwise would be, Italy’s by more than 2 percent, and Spain’s by more
than 3 percent as a result of Kyoto’s emissions targets. The UK, Italy,
and Germany each would lose at least 200,000 jobs; Spain would lose
800,000.”

I think the U.S. should sign on to Kyoto
immediately!  As Roy documents in his Spotlight, the U.S. Energy
Information Agency calculates that meeting the Kyoto standards “would
cost the U.S. about 4 percent in GDP and eliminate millions of jobs
from the economy.”

My guess is that losing jobs and hurting the economy for no reason is not very good policy for NC.

NC leaders should always be asking what new (and old) environmental
policies will cost (e.g. jobs, GDP, etc) and what “clear” and proven
benefit will there be?  NC needs to stop enacting costly and
detrimental environmental policies because we can and because it makes
us feel more like California or New York.  We aren’t those states,
and I for one, am proud of that!