A REGULATORY REINTERPRETATION TO BLOW AWAY DIRTY ENERGY?

Seth P. Cox, University of California - Los Angeles

Abstract

The world is moving towards a renewable energy economy, motivated in part by the well-established impacts of conventional energy sources. Of these consequences, the most notorious is global warming. Global warming is a reality. Emissions of the notorious category of pollutants referred to as greenhouse gases (hereinafter “GHGs”) are generated by combustion of conventional sources of energy and are widely cited as the chief source of human-induced warming. According to the World Health Organization, 150,000 deaths are presently attributable to climate change. And this situation will only worsen over the next several years as global temperatures continue to rise at unsustainable rates. The stark environmental costs of conventional energy are much broader than merely global warming. Conventional energy facilities powered by oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear fuel collectively account for forty percent of the United States' (hereinafter “US”) freshwater withdrawals per annum, a figure slated to double within twenty years. Extraction and use of coal generates toxic waste in an amount equivalent to ten percent of that which is mined. The emission of airborne pollutants, such as sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides, and particulate matter, from conventional sources accounts for 50,000-70,000 American deaths each year. These environmental costs of electricity generation must be mitigated. The world must shift to an economy powered by alternative sources of energy.