'Under The Dome' Could Change Television

There is a problem with the XML that was received from the network. See inner exception for more details.
There is a problem with the XML that was received from the network. See inner exception for more details.
Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

Obama Climate Change Proposals Won't Be Job-Killers, Experts Say

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Even before President Barack Obama unveiled his sweeping climate change plan on Tuesday, Republican leaders were denouncing the effort as a job-killer. Any move to restrict polluting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, they maintained, would send energy costs up and lead to mass layoffs in a vital job sector.

At a press conference last Thursday, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) blasted the expected proposal as “absolutely crazy.”

“Why would you want to increase the cost of energy and kill more American jobs at a time when the American people are still asking where are the jobs?” he asked.

But experts who have studied the intersection of environmental policy and the job market say there's little truth to this claim, if any.

Such assertions are "wildly overstated," said Richard Revesz, the director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University. He framed Boehner's remark as the latest iteration of a “job-killer meme” that has surfaced frequently in recent years as Republicans have sought to drum up fears about Obama’s environmental efforts.

“We hear often that large swaths of the economy will be wiped out due to one regulation or another,” Revesz said. “Fortunately, and not surprisingly, we don't see those predictions coming true.”

In a comprehensive 2012 review of more than 25 studies that attempted to gauge the effect of environmental regulations on jobs, a team of researchers led by Revesz found that many claims about such regulations were unreliable.

While studies commissioned by the coal industry warned that millions of jobs could be lost, others conducted by left-leaning think tanks and environmental groups predicted that millions of jobs would be gained, their survey found.

By contrast, the most detailed studies concluded that job losses and gains from environmental regulations essentially balanced out. "When serious studies have been done, the impacts tend to be small -- sometimes positive, sometimes negative, but small," Revesz said.

Obama said Tuesday that he would use his executive powers to place limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The plan is the most ambitious effort by a U.S. president to address climate change to date and includes $8 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy projects, such as efforts to trap and store carbon dioxide emitted by coal-burning power plants.

One company that stands to benefit from the plan is Neumann Systems Group, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The company recently won a $73.5 million contract to apply its liquid-based emissions scrubbing technology to a local power plant that is under construction. Todd Tiahrt, Neumann's CEO, said the technology could also be used to retrofit older plants at a cost of about $150 million for an average-sized facility.

Tiahrt said he expected Obama's proposal would spur growth in his field, and that in five years his operation could employ 500 engineers. But he also worried that new regulations would single out coal plants for closure, even though they are hardly the only carbon polluters.

"My initial reaction is this amounts to an unfair segregation of the coal industry," he said.

Coal plants are still proliferating across the world, Tiahrt said, and any initiative to curb their use in the United States would also inhibit the growth of businesses like his that are developing methods to make coal clean.

Perhaps sensing this paradox, Democrats seem to be pulling back on their attempts to directly counter Republicans' jobs fears and portray climate regulations as boons to the job market.

The policy paper that accompanied Obama's announcement mentions potential job growth stemming from the proposed measures six separate times, but it avoids any specifics, such as what types of jobs might be created and in which industries.

Indeed, the only specific job-growth number in the report refers to an "estimated" 17,000 jobs created at 50 solar and wind farms and geothermal plants approved by the Department of Energy since 2009.

This reluctance to be predictive could be a sign the administration wants to bury a boast Obama made while on the campaign trail in 2008. If elected president, he pledged, he would invest in green-energy technology that would yield 5 million jobs.

The best opportunity at realizing that goal came in 2009, when the massive stimulus approved by Congress provided $90 billion in loans, tax credits and other measures for increasing clean energy production and bolstering public transit.

Even the most vocal supporters of the stimulus acknowledge that the investment didn't create many jobs. Robert Pollin, a former Energy Department official who was tasked with tabulating jobs stemming from the stimulus, said his "best guess" is that 240,000 green jobs were created from 2009 to 2011.

But while those green-energy efforts may not have boosted the job market, they weren't job-killers either, Revesz noted. And all things considered, he said, Obama's newly proposed climate rules are likely to do more good than harm.

"With the health benfits and environmental benefits are strong as they are, it's really clear to us that we as a nation are better off with these regulations," he said.

Also on HuffPost:

Monique Ruffin: Moms Change the World: Cynthia Occelli

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Get Impact Alerts: Sign Up

Cynthia Occelli might very well might be an incarnation of Venus, right here on planet earth, and we should listen to what she has to say. Occelli, the author of Resurrecting Venus, has made it her mission to assist women in adding to meaning and material value to their lives. Sitting in her home, surrounded by hanging chandeliers, marble floors and a spiral stair case, overlooking the city of Los Angeles, Occelli drinks a homemade green juice fit for a goddess. She recalls when she was living in someone's garage, a nineteen-year-old single mom on welfare. She says a voice within, told her "Your past is no more an indicator of your future than the color of your neighbor's hair. You are free. Anything and everything good is possible for you, if you believe it to be true."

Her subsequent rise to success occurred like a pendulum, swinging from a deep belief in herself (bordering on delusions of grandeur) to feeling like a fraud and a loser. Occelli says that as she started taking steps to fulfilling her potential, she gradually stopped questioning her worth. One of the instructions she gives her clients is, "Do the thing you fear." Occelli says that when she first thought of becoming a lawyer, she was afraid that she would never measure up. But rather than listen to the negative tape in her head, she took the challenge and got accepted at law school. In showing up each day she proved to herself that she was very capable of doing what she once thought was out of her reach. Occelli graduated at the top of her class.

Today Occelli is the mom of two children to whom she has given the opportunity to truly discover their own identity. As a feminine-power coach, Occelli acknowledges that she sometimes struggles to teach her children the value of feminine attributes. "In a masculine society we value doing over being," she said, "and I'm still working that out within myself. I find that if it's 11 a.m. and my daughter is still lounging around in her pj's, I have the tendency to question her about the use of her time, and what her plans are for the day. Occelli's work with women assists them in embracing their feminine nature. "The feminine nature is kind, open, receptive, fluid, cooperative, and creative. For so long we have only celebrated and recognized masculine ways of being. We value accomplishment, competition, structure, individualism, and reward--those in society who are the fittest. I believe women can better define themselves by what feels good for them."

And while the masculine paradigm still rules, Occelli believes that there are clear shifts toward respect for a more feminine perspective, and accordingly a greater balance within our culture. She questions Sheryl Sandberg's theory that women need to "lean in." "It is my feeling that corporate America was created by men and for men. It is an industry where men shine and the industry works well for them. I worked in corporate America and succeeded. I also decided that I wanted something different for my life that did not exclude my children, allowing me to be home to have dinner with them a few nights per week. Why should we lean into something that was not created with women in mind," she asks? She goes on to say, "Football is a game created with men in mind. Sure women can play it, but should we? I encourage women to start their own businesses designed according to support the success of families, not just the bottom line."

Occelli feels strongly that women should not follow the herd. She says that being biracial (and the resulting exclusion from so many arenas), freed her to develop her own unconventional way to thrive. "I started loving that I could explore my own ideas and create my own rules. I want every woman to define success and having it all on her own terms, not according to what society says is right. I believe that never fitting in taught me to trust myself. I wanted very much to belong and be included, but when I realized being unique was a gift I started focusing how I could live the very best life I could create for myself. We each have the power within us to rise above and beyond the most difficult circumstances. For me, having a son was the impetus to do better. I could live in poverty and allow his father to treat me poorly, but when my son was born I felt he was entitled to have a good life. Within five years I changed everything because my son was watching me. If women can't (or won't) do it for themselves, they might find the strength to do better for the sake of their children.

Occelli walks this planet exuding warm elegancy that can be comforting and healing for those she encounters. Within her elegant nature, is a strength that validates her message; we all can benefit from understanding the nature of the feminine and how it operates in work, romance, parenting, and community. Her experience is proof that living your life as a feminine woman has benefits, including being surrounded by beauty, feeling good in your body, doing what you love, and believing in your ability to create the life you desire. Occelli is changing the world by teaching women to revel in being female, and to stand in the expansive power of their femininity.

For more information please follow www.momschangetheworld.com

Follow Monique Ruffin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/moniqueruffin

Get Alerts

Fron Nahzi: Albanian Elections: Promises of Change, Really?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Get World Alerts: Sign Up

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Campaign. Much like the 1963 epic American comedy, the runoff to Albania's June 23 national elections has brought together a cast of old and new characters from Albania's ongoing democratic evolution. They are scrambling from one end of this tiny country to another like Keystone Cops. They all promise EU membership, an end to corruption, and to do away with unemployment (an estimated 28 percent of youth is unemployed). Most recently the ruling party has upped the ante by promising free visas to the U.S.

The cast is led by the aging Sali Berisha, a self-appointed guardian of democracy, current Prime Minister, and the leader of the ruling Democratic Party. His challenger is young Edi Rama, Chairman of the Socialist Party, former Mayor of Tirana, and one who prefers steak tartare in a country where well done is the norm. Both leaders claim a vote for their party will lead to change in the country. Berisha's slogan is "We Are Change and We Are Moving Forward". Rama has countered with the slogan "2013: The Year of Change", as in "let's get rid of Berisha", and for good measure he has flung the notion of "Rebirth" in the slogan.

In the wings there is the nationalists Red and Black Party, which was doing surprisingly well in the polls until its leader demanded $100,000 from party members to have their names placed on the ballot. Party members fled the movement and so with it collapsed Greater Albania. Then there is the newly created New Wind/Fresh New Democratic Party led by Bamir Topi, former President of the country. A relative unknown, Berisha handpicked and propelled Topi to the Presidency. Topi took a position against Berisha and soon found himself out of a job. Topi has taken his revenge against Berisha on the campaign trail where he hopes his Fresh Party will unseat the old man. Fresh may get a few seats in parliament but doubtful enough to rouse the winds of change.

The key player is Ilir Meta, the Janus head of the Socialist Movement for Integration, a splinter party that broke ranks with the Socialist Party in 2004. With a steady 5% of the popular vote, Meta has taken the role of king maker. Since 2009 he has shared a bed with Berisha. Meta served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Berisha's government. He was caught on video tape by one of his own party members demanding kickbacks for a state tender. Berisha quickly came to his rescue. Against the testimony of independent criminal experts and the cry for justice by both European and US diplomats, Berisha and his courts determined the tapes were altered and had the case thrown out of court. Meta walked away with pockets lined of money and into the arms of Edi Rama. No surprise his party's slogan is "Walk Faster". It's doubtful Rama will be able to keep pace with him, as some insiders believe Meta has already begun a dastardly plan to steal the Socialist Party away from Rama and become Prime Minister.

With a seven point lead in the most recent polls, Rama's Socialists are expected to win the elections. But Albanian political campaigning does not begin or end with the elections. They are an all season sport. Losers never quit complaining and the winners never quit boasting. Promises made during the elections are quickly forgotten and a finger pointing policy is quickly adopted. For more than twenty years each party has promised to change the country but not one party is willing to change. And the only kind of change the public would like to see is less cash in their leaders' offshore bank accounts and more change, as in cash, in their own pockets or... a free visa to the U.S. Oy vey!

Get Alerts