September 23, 2013

Report from the 'War on Coal'

By S. Fred Singer
A major project has been quietly underway, within the executive branch of the U.S. government, trying to calculate a "social cost of carbon" (SCC) -- a so-called "non-market externality" (i. e., not captured by the normal price system of a free market).  This calculated cost would then be imposed on all government programs in order to "fix" the price system -- so they say.  The SCC report was published in May 2013, with little fanfare; public comments had to be submitted by Sept. 16.  But this whole misconceived exercise has no valid scientific basis and can destroy the supply of low-cost, reliable electric power.  It is certain to face legal challenges from industry and informed consumer groups; it should be abandoned. Even the terminology is confusing.  The interagency SCC group, made up of the top brains from about a dozen departments, cannot even define their terms properly.  What they label "cost" is the damage (disbenefit) of a hypothesized...(Read Full Article)