Take Your Dirty Economic Development Elsewhere

It’s only been a couple weeks since the state of California decided to
create a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, and some businesses are already
looking for an exit, according to the Las
Vegas Review-Journal:

The cap, designed to cut greenhouse gas output 25
percent by 2020, evoked stern responses from business advocates such as the
California Chamber of Commerce, which said in a statement that the act would
drive companies and jobs out of California and
jack up power and fuel prices for residents of the GoldenState.

Gino DiCaro, a spokesman for the California
Manufacturers and Technology Association, said the limit will weigh heavily on
emissions-producing cement makers, power companies, steel manufacturers and oil
refiners. The Milken Institute reported that doing business in California already costs
24 percent more than the national average, DiCaro said, and many of the state’s
companies simply can’t bear any more economic burdens.

One would imagine this is going to
be a golden opportunity for neighboring states like Nevada to become the new home for any number of energy-intensive refugees, but it
seems that officials in the Silver State have already
developed a case of green envy:

“If businesses begin leaving California because they don’t meet standard emissions requirements, we don’t want them in Nevada, either,” said Somer Hollingsworth, president and
chief executive officer of the Nevada Development Authority in Las Vegas. “Those aren’t companies we’re
going to be soliciting.”

One wonders how CEO Hollingsworth feels
about all the businesses currently in Nevada who won’t be able to meet California’s emissions
standards either. I assume the Nevada
Development Authority will ask them to pack up and leave as well.