New Report Shows EPA’s Proposed Carbon Regulations Will Create Tens of Thousands of Jobs

By 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Clean Power Plan will create nearly 100,000 more jobs than are lost, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank.

The report’s initial estimates are higher than some similar studies; however, the institute found that the job impacts of the Clean Power Plan, which limits carbon emissions from power plants, would not last, and would become “almost completely insignificant by 2030.”

Coal mining and coal-fired power plants will face the biggest job losses if the Clean Power Plan is implemented, because coal-fired power plants are responsible for 39 percent of the United States’ electricity generation and three-quarters of the sector’s carbon emissions.  But other sectors, including renewable energy, scientific research, and appliance manufacturing, will all increase, at least initially, the report found.  Efficiency investments, such as retrofits for homes and businesses, will be a key driver in initial job growth, but will ultimately lower electricity demand, EPI said.

The report looks not only at direct employment — for instance, coal mining positions that will be lost, or solar industry jobs created — but also at indirect employment, such as a waitressing job in a mining town or railroad jobs affected by decreased coal shipping.  That means the report looked at where coal miners are spending their paychecks.

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