States with poor climate policy ‘overlap’ with those seeking to limit rights, Kamala Harris says
WASHINGTON — California, Vermont, and Hawaii have among the most stringent climate change policies in the nation, but they don’t have the strictest laws limiting the use of renewable energy, which is more cost-effective, according to the environmental group Environment California.
This new data shows what one activist dubbed “the climate justice map” of the U.S., showing where the state’s policies are closest to federal, international, or local laws.
For example, the group found that the nation’s “two worst states of all, Vermont and Hawaii, have the worst climate policy outcomes, by far,” according to The New York Times.
While California leads the nation in renewable energy production, its “snowpack-buster” energy policy is the weakest in the nation, according to the Times. Among other things, it bans the use of more than 10 percent of the state’s electricity to combat wildfires, the largest single consumer of power in the U.S.
The state’s approach to energy policy doesn’t appear on Environment California’s “climate justice map,” but it does show that its “snowpack-buster” climate policy isn’t strong, the group said.
In its 2017 “State of the Environment” report, Environment California found that the nation’s renewable energy policies, when they were designed, are designed to be the most expensive — with costs ranging from $300 to $1,200 per megawatt hour, or MWh—but that when it’s real-world, more realistic costs exceed that cost threshold, particularly for wind and solar power, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said earlier this year.
The new map, released Wednesday, shows the states and territories that have the best climate policy outcomes and also have the highest costs.
“The map shows us the states that are putting in the most robust policies that would make the biggest difference in terms of meeting the goals,” said John Steiner, executive director and co-founder of Environment California. “The ones that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest cost are those that are closest to achieving those goals.”
The group did not