FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Today Cascade Policy Institute’s President and CEO John A. Charles, Jr. released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris accord on climate change:
“President Trump made the right call today in terminating participation by the U.S. in the Paris climate change agreement.
“The central problem with the accord was that the alleged benefits were speculative, long-term, and global; yet the costs to Americans would be real, immediate and local. It was a terrible deal for American taxpayers who would have been required to send many billions of dollars to an international green slush fund, with no accountability.
“Pulling out of the Paris agreement does not mean that the climate change apocalypse is upon us. The carbon intensity of the U.S. economy has dropped by 50% since 1980 simply through technological innovation and the dynamic market process. If reducing carbon dioxide is a worthy policy goal—which is just an assumption—the United States already has an impressive track record of reducing emissions.
“The Paris accord was always a triumph of symbolism over substance. Now that American participation has ended, we can appropriately move on to issues of real significance.”
Founded in 1991, Cascade Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research and educational organization that focuses on state and local issues in Oregon. Cascade’s mission is to develop and promote public policy alternatives that foster individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic opportunity.
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