New reports highlight Florida clean energy job creation and impact of cap and trade legislation

Several new studies this week indicate that clean energy investments will bring benefits in Florida for job creation, consumer savings and economic opportunities. Another report says any negative economic impact from federal cap and trade legislation to limit heat-trapping gases, will be "very modest or even negligible."
Two of the reports to be released on Thursday outlines how many and what kind of jobs will be created through legislation moving through Congress that includes $150 billion for investment in clean energy.
The reports were prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (PERI) with the Center for American Progress (CAP), Green For All, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Local and state-specific data will be available for Florida as well as the Miami and Tampa Bay area.
Another new economic report, commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund, says the latest federal proposal to curtail greenhouse gases will not have any serious cost for the Florida economy over the next 15 years.
The report, titled 'The Florida Economy and a Federal Carbon Cap,' by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, concludes that that a federal cap-and-trade program to decrease carbon, Florida's economy would reach $1.47 trillion in February 2025, only eight weeks later than it would without a cap-and-trade, according to The Miami Herald.
Some reports have warned about dire consequences if cap-and-trade legislation is passed. However, scientists say the risks of doing nothing could result in greater economic harm, if predictions of the consequences of global warming turn out to be true, including major changes in weather patterns, and rising sea levels.

- David Adams, Times staff writer

Comments

[TurkeyWatchman]

The path toward a sustainable economy is through providing a market which will actually affect demand and create incentive for doing the desired outcome better. We need to rethink how we consume and generate our energy and how we can eventually sell it to the rest of the world.

[Tino]

Whenever free meat is being handed out, expect the greedy vultures to gather:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/business/energy-environment/19unions.html?_r=3&ref=business