Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Pants on Fire: Study’s author says Ensign, others wrong

WASHINGTON -- It’s not quite a cease-and-desist order, but an author of a widely cited MIT study on the costs of cap-and-trade legislation told Republican leaders today they are misrepresenting the results of his findings.

Republicans in both the House and Senate have been repeatedly quoting the study as the source behind their claim that climate change legislation would cost households $3,000 annually in higher energy costs.

Republican Sen. John Ensign used the $3,000 figure this morning on the Senate floor.

But John Reilly, associate director for research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Joint Program on Global Change, said that’s not correct.

Average household costs would be $340, Reilly said. He goes on to suggest Congress consider ways to offset the costs, especially for lower and moderate income families.

In a letter to House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio on Wednesday, Reilly wrote:

“It has come to my attention that an analysis we conducted examining proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Report No. 146, Assessment of U.S. Cap-and-Trade Proposals, has been misrepresented in recent press releases distributed by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“The press release claims our report estimates an average cost per family of a carbon cap and trade program that would meet targets now being discussed in Congress to be over $3,000, but that is nearly 10 times the correct estimate which is approximately $340.

“Since the issue of legislation to control greenhouse gases is now under consideration, I wanted to take an opportunity to clear up any misunderstanding created by this press release and to avoid further confusion.”

The letter goes on to explain the math involved.

PolitiFact at the St. Petersburg Times checked out the truthiness of the $3,000 claim last week.

After interviewing Reilly, it gave Republicans its worst possible rating on the PolitiFact truth-o-meter: Pants on Fire.

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