Swing-state households would lose at least $70G within first year of Green New Deal, study finds

FOX News | Sam Dorman | July 30, 2019

Radically transforming energy consumption under the "Green New Deal" (GND) would cost the average household at least $70,000 in the first year of its rollout, and a cool quarter-million dollars total after five years, a new study concluded.

The study, released jointly by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and Power the Future on Tuesday, looked at a wide swath of data to estimate how transforming the energy sector -- which includes de-carbonizing transportation and retrofitting U.S. commercial and residential buildings -- would affect the average household in five representative states.

Within the first year of implementing the program, the average household in each of the given states (Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania) would incur at least $70,000 in expenses -- followed by roughly $45,000 in annual expenses for each of the following 2-5 years and over $37,000 after that time frame.Their estimates came on the same day as the Democrats' second primary debate, which included leading progressive candidates who not only have endorsed the GND, but who also sought public support from its visionary, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. A slew of other candidates -- including the party's frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden -- have endorsed the basics of the project. Three congressional Democrats introduced a carbon tax bill last week that similarly would seek a drastic reduction in emissions.

While it's early in the primary season, candidates will be competing soon for voters in some of the states modeled by the institute. For example, the study found that the battleground state of Pennsylvania would face over $2 trillion in costs for upgrading residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Florida would encounter a $1.4 trillion price tag and New Hampshire, the first primary state, would face $102.8 billion in retrofitting costs.

The two others would see similarly high costs: $352.8 billion for New Mexico and $533.4 billion for Alaska.

Ocasio-Cortez has downplayed cost concerns and mocked conservatives whom she argued were like Dr. Evil, demanding outlandish ransoms in the "Austin Powers" movies. But a host of studies -- albeit, mostly from right-leaning organizations -- have found that the Green New Deal's costs would be astronomical.

Biden and some other 2020 Democrats, meanwhile, have endorsed its "framework" -- yielding environmental proposals that would cost much less but still reach figures like $1.7 trillion over 10 years.

Read the full story here.