Bernie Sanders’ Endorses Regs That Make The Poor Poorer

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he wants to fight global warmingusing the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, but doing sowill hurt the very people he claims to champion:everyday working Americans.

The Clean Power Plan is expected to cost a staggering $41 billionannually. The plan will eliminate mostcheap coal and natural gas power with expensive sources like solarand wind.

As electricity becomes more expensive, the cost ofproducing goods and services thatuse electricity increases, effectively raising the price of almosteverything. These higher prices areultimately paid for by consumers.

Raising the price of electricity has a massiveregressive impact by harming low-income individuals far more thanit harms the wealthy. Poorer working-class people tendto spend a higher proportion oftheir incomes on “basic needs” likegroceries, power bills, clothing, housing and gasoline thanwealthier people do.

Increases in the price of electricity harm African-Americans andother ethnic minorities far more than they harm the averagehousehold, according to a study by the Pacific ResearchInstitute. The regulations Sanderssupports will cause the average annual electricity billto rise from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent of averagehousehold income. For the average African-American household,annual spending on electricity will rise from4.5 percent to 5.8 percent of household income. Lower-incomeAfrican-Americans will bear an even larger burden andcould spend up to 26 percent of their household income onelectricity.

The Clean Power Plan Sanders supports won’t have muchimpact on global warming. According to analysis by thelibertarian Cato Institute, using models created by theEnvironmental Protection Agency, the plan will onlyavert only 0.019° Celsius of warming by the year 2100,an amount so small that itcouldn’t be detected.

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