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posted by martyb on Friday June 02 2017, @03:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the promises-kept dept.

[Ed Note: What follows is the official press release from President Donald Trump at the White House. It marks the official stance of the United States pulling out of the Paris Agreement. Though there is certainly a political aspect to this, I would like to see if we can try to avoid political bickering and focus discussion on the actual details of the press release. See, also, our previous coverage, Report: Trump Plans to Exit Paris Climate Agreement. --martyb]

From the desk of President Donald J. Trump

For Immediate Release

June 01, 2017

President Trump Puts American Jobs First

“Our government rushed to join international agreements where the United States pays the costs and bears the burdens while other countries get the benefit and pay nothing.” – President Donald J. Trump

ALREADY THE WORLD’S ENERGY LEADER: The United States had already become the leader in cutting CO2 emissions while still leading in oil & gas production.

  • In the United States, energy related carbon dioxide emissions have significantly declined since before the Paris Climate Accord was negotiated, and will continue to decline as a share of worldwide emissions, particularly when compared to other nations such as China and India.
    • The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2017 Annual Energy Outlook reports that, from 2005 to 2016, energy related carbon dioxide emissions fell at an average annual rate of 1.4%.
    • Emissions are projected to continue to fall from 2016 to 2040. 
    • Meanwhile, the EIA reports that emissions in the developing world are expected to double their 2005 levels by 2040.
  • According to recent U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States remained the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas combined.
  • The United States continues to be a world leader in energy, but increased competition from countries like China demonstrates the need for policies that enable America to compete on a global scale.

HARMFUL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: The Paris Climate Accord could cost the United States economy millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in economic output over the next several decades.

  • According to an analysis by National Economic Research Associates (NERA), meeting President Obama’s commitment under the Paris Climate Accord would cost the United States nearly $3 trillion by 2040.
    • By 2040, the American economy could have 6.5 million fewer industrial sector jobs, including 3.1 million fewer manufacturing jobs.
    • Industries such as cement, iron and steel, coal, natural gas, and petroleum would be forced to cut production under President Obama’s Paris Climate Accord.

SHOULDERING THE BURDEN: Under the Paris Climate Accord, the United States would carry the burden while other countries would get the benefits.

  • Under the Obama Administration, which signed an agreement without having to deal with the economic repercussions, the United States was committed to reducing CO2 emissions by between 26 and 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.
    • Meanwhile China can continue to increase emissions for the next 13 years.
  • The United States already contributed $1 billion to a UN Green Climate Fund. This would increase to $3 billion under pledges made by the previous Administration.

INEFFECTIVE: Even if every nation fully complied with the Paris Climate Accord, it would barely impact the climate.

  • According to researchers from MIT, if every nation that signed the Paris Climate Accord met all of their commitments until the end of the century, the impact on the climate would be negligible.

PROMISE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: President Trump is fulfilling his promise to the American people to stop international agreements that disadvantage the United States.

  • May 26, 2016, then-candidate Trump:
    • “President Obama entered the United States into the Paris Climate Accords— unilaterally, and without the permission of Congress.”
    • “So foreign bureaucrats are going to be controlling what we are using and what we are doing on our land in our country. No way.”

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 02 2017, @02:10PM (3 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday June 02 2017, @02:10PM (#519354) Journal

    Even discounting the backlash already building against it from within the USA, we've reached the point where simple economic pressures will continue to move the USA and every other nation towards renewable sources. In the long term, fighting that tide will hurt the USA more than anyone else.

    I'm with you on this. I'm generally of the mind that the status quo in American government is fatally flawed. This decision reflects how completely the keepers of the status quo have captured the American federal government. They will not and cannot adapt to our new global realities. The momentum in America toward renewable energy and sustainability, though, has built too much and gone too far to be turned back now. It's ineluctable. That's cause for optimism.

    The only effect I see this policy resistance at the federal level having is to guarantee there will be no soft landing for the status quo. It will be abrupt, a state change. All the wealth and income will shift to new players, some of whom we already know but most we don't yet, and old calcified industries will go bankrupt and their employees in Congress will be swept away.

    Will America itself persist as the world's sole superpower through and after that transition? In the short run it still has the world's most powerful military by far, and it still holds the reins for many of the world's financial and other systems. If the country dithered for a long time all of that would slip away, but if it can right its political ship in 10 years everybody might forgive it its nervous breakdown and decide they still prefer America to China or Germany.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @02:15PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @02:15PM (#519357)

    The only effect I see this policy resistance at the federal level having is to guarantee there will be no soft landing for the status quo. It will be abrupt, a state change. All the wealth and income will shift to new players, some of whom we already know but most we don't yet, and old calcified industries will go bankrupt and their employees in Congress will be swept away.

    Not a single care for all the regular people caught up in your nihilist fantasy. God you are a total shit bag.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @02:31PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @02:31PM (#519370)

      Whatever little snowflake. Obviously people would get new jobs in the new industries, but let's worry about your feelings first!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @07:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @07:01PM (#519939)

        > Obviously people would get new jobs in the new industries, but let's worry about your feelings first!

        What do my feelings have to do with 40 year olds trying and failing to switch careers while they have car payments, mortgages and their kid's tuition to pay?
        Living your mom's basement without any responsibilities you are utterly clueless what it is like for regular people when industries are completely uprooted.

        And despite your aggressive ignorance, you are still a better person than P666 - because he does know that people will suffer and he does not give one thin damn about them. All he cares about is turning billionaires into hundred-millionaires and vice versa. His meet the new boss, same as the old boss goals for america are deliberately cruel to the people who are caught in the cross-fire.