Conservative Groups, Business Leaders Clashing Over this Obama-Era Climate Policy
The Daily Caller cited CEI on the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
Hundreds of different companies in the heating, air conditioning and refrigeration industries are in support of keeping Kigali in place and are encouraging President Donald Trump to submit it to the Senate for ratification. These companies — represented by trade groups such as Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy and the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute — have already spent millions transitioning to the new standards. They do not want the Trump administration to ditch Kigali and see their investments go to waste.
However, more than 20 conservative and libertarian groups sent a letter to Trump on Monday urging him to do just that, arguing that the amendment would cause great economic harm with hardly any environmental benefit. Led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the letter was signed by numerous organizations, including Heritage Action, Americans for Limited Government, American Energy Alliance and others.
The letter makes the case that adoption of the Kigali Amendment would lower global mean temperature by an “unmeasurable” amount. At the same time, the toll on American households would be hundreds of dollars in added refrigerant costs. Such extra costs to consumers and businesses, they argue, would be even worse for developing countries.
“By opposing the Kigali Amendment, we want to make clear that we do not oppose the adoption of HFOs for air conditioning and refrigeration,” the letter continues. “We simply believe that consumers and businesses rather than governments or the United Nations should be able to decide if and when to replace HFCs with HFOs.”
The letter could prove effective in swaying Trump’s opinion. The director of CEI’s center for energy and environment, Myron Ebell, is a signatory to the letter. Ebell previously operated Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team and has been a major supporter of the White House’s environmental deregulation agenda.