Key Vote NO on H.R. 9

The American Energy Alliance urges all Representatives to oppose H.R. 9 the Climate Action Now Act, which seeks to prevent the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The Paris Agreement was and remains a bad deal for the United States. Without Congressional approval, the previous administration sought to yoke the U.S. to economically harmful targets while allowing most of the world to do nothing. For example, the two largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions growth, China and India, committed to little more than business as usual, letting their economies grow and develop just as they have been for several decades.

Additionally, the economic truth is that according to the models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the economic costs of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to hit the Paris targets are greater than the expected costs of environmental damage from climate change. This is true when looking at all representative pathways, even the worst case scenario modeled. In other words, the IPCC consensus science is that compliance with the Paris minimum target of 2 degrees Celsius—let alone the more ambitious 1.5 degrees goal—would be MORE HARMFUL than the environmental cost of doing nothing.

The Paris Agreement would harm the domestic economy to advantage our foreign competitors in pursuit of a goal the IPCC itself calculates would be more harmful than doing nothing. There is no redeeming feature to the Paris Agreement and President Trump was absolutely correct in deciding to withdraw.

The AEA urges all members to support free markets and affordable energy by voting NO on H.R. 9. AEA will include this vote in its American Energy Scorecard.