NY Times - "Study: Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill Would Prompt Decade of Job Growth"

[TomCADem]

I know the "conventional" wisdom is that support for the Climate bill has declined, and that it is unlikely that it will be passed this year. However, in light of the disaster in the gulf, isn't it all the more reason to push a bill designed to reduce our dependence on oil?

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/20/20greenwire-study-kerry-lieberman-climate-bill-would-promp-31963.html

Senate climate legislation unveiled last week would spark a decade of multibillion-dollar investments to help overhaul how the nation produces and consumes energy, adding 200,000 jobs per year in the construction of new power plants and through greater demand for biofuels, according to a nonpartisan study (pdf) released today.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics said in its 18-page report that the bill from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) creates the new jobs between 2011 and 2020 because of its mandatory limits on greenhouse gases, which will prompt $41.1 billion in investments per year as the nation shifts away from traditional fossil fuels like coal and oil and toward new nuclear power and renewables.

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On the transportation end, the Peterson Institute report said that a combination of improved efficiency upgrades and fuel switching to ethanol, biodiesel, natural gas and electricity would help reduce U.S. oil imports by 33 percent to 40 percent below current levels and 9 to 19 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2030.

U.S spending on imported oil also would fall by $51 billion to $93 billion per year, which cuts global oil prices and reduces oil producer revenues by $263 billion to $436 billion annually by 2030.