Representative Handy, I will present testimony today but I wanted to provide the commmittee with a few links that I may refer to when I speak today. They relate to the effect of environmental regulations on the economy. The track record is clear, strong environmental regulations and healthy ecosystems correlate with healthier economies, and there is no evidence what so ever that weakening environmental regulations in the name of economic growth does one whit of good, maybe increasing its contribution to GDP because of all the money spent fixing the damage but clearly effecting community prosperity. In an effort to supoport the committees knowledge of climate change and the economy i offer these annotated links.
The seminal paper in the field is from 1991 by the late Dr Stephen Meyer who was at MIT . Here is the second version of the paper that Meyers wrote.
Here is a quote:
“Perhaps more to the point those who live and work in states that have vigorously pursued environmental quality and are now contemplating rolling back environmental standards as a quick fix to jump-starting their economies out of recession should reconsider. Based on the evidence there is no reason to expect that loosening environmental standards will have any effect on the pace of state economic growth.”
I have searched the literature and there is no actual study that refutes this that I have been able to find over the last 20 years. We get assertions by Koch Brother funded organizations like the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity saying this is not true, but no actual studies. And considering how the Koch brothers regularly deny about climate change, why would we expect the organizations that they fund to be any more honest about the business climate.
Another paper I wish to refer you to is by Kansas Inc. Kansas Inc., is the state agency in Kansas that does the same sort of work as the RI Commerce Corporation, promote economic development. Kansas is dominated by conservative politicians and Kansas Inc is far from a liberal stronghold. I think you will find their analysis of the business climate and regulations on the economy rather telling.
The third paper I commend to the committee is by the Business Curmudgeon and is an analysis of a series of papers including the Kansas Inc study on the effect of Business Climate on the economy. Again you will note that there is no evidence that regulation such as proposed for plastic bags in Rhode Island harms the economy. I actually think we could even get agreement after looking at the numbers that the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act have been a boon for our communities.
I hope the committee reads these papers and ponders them well. These issues will not only come up as we ponder our efforts to avoid our slow moving disaster via climate change, but the mistaken belief that environmental regulation harms the economy permeates all of Smith Hill and the media. It would be great if the committee truly informed itself rather than buying into the memes propagated by the wealthy.
I would be happy to discuss this further with any members of the committee separately or together.
Greg Gerritt
Providence RI