Believe or not, Cap and Trade, which was enacted in Massachusetts and 9 other Northeastern States in 2008 has not brought their economy to the brink, it has actually created jobs and revenue and done some good defying the naysayers who predicted the doom and gloom.
The state of Massachusetts is quietly reaping the benefits of cap and trade, the much-maligned process for curbing greenhouse gas emissions that federal lawmakers and many state governments resoundingly rejected in recent years. According to a recent study, cap and trade has created 3,800 jobs and nearly $500 million in economic activity for Massachusetts since 2008.
Massachusetts belongs to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the first and only mandatory carbon emissions trading scheme in America. A report analyzing data from the first three years of the effort found that of the 10 participating Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, Massachusetts benefited most economically, because it used the bulk of its money to help fund its aggressive energy efficiency agenda.
Source
So not only did the State reap the benefits of a cap and trade system by controlling emissions, they used the money to invest in energy efficient building improvements, which means JOBS.
"Energy efficiency investments have a much bigger multiplier effect than any other category of spending," said Paul Hibbard, vice president of the Analysis Group, the Boston-based consulting firm that prepared the report. When homeowners and businesses used RGGI dollars to retrofit and weatherize buildings, they not only ended up saving on energy costs and spending money elsewhere in the economy—they also put contractors and installers to work.
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All the RGGI states saw a net economic benefit from the program, the report found, despite increased compliance costs for power plant operators and subsequent electricity rate hikes, largely thanks to energy conservation measures that reduced electric bills. Regionally, $912 million in total auction proceeds spurred $1.6 billion in economic value and created 16,000 jobs, the report found.
Imagine something like this on a National level? and yes, I know, cap and trade definitely has its flaws, but is important to push back on the absolutely false meme that environmental policies are "job killers".